Grapefruit

London: Peter Owen, 1970. First British edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The British edition of Yoko Ono's conceptual art book, first published in 1964 in Japan, which mostly consists of instructions for performances or individual actions ("Carry a bag of peas. Leave a pea wherever you go"). Many of the pieces cannot (yet) be performed: "Prescribe pills for going through the wall and have only the hair come back." The first instruction, printed on the jacket flap, is "Burn this book after you've read it."

This 1970 version expands somewhat on the Japanese original. It also includes an "introduction" by John Lennon, which consists of reproductions of a couple of sketches and the text, "Hi! My name is John Lennon / I'd like you to meet Yoko Ono."

288 pages (according to the jacket). About 5-1/2 inches square. This UK edition was published on June 11, 1970 (according to the Liverpool Daily Post of June 10) and it has a different jacket design than the US edition, which was published a few months earlier, in March. First British edition (stated). A very good copy in a very good dust jacket missing a triangular piece (1/2 by 1 inch) from the bottom edge of the front panel. This copy is inscribed by Ono with small drawings to a previous owner, whose bookplate is on the facing page: "To John Hunou, love, Yoko Ono Copenhagen '97." Yono has added a sun and four clouds to the page. Uncommon inscribed; scarce with drawings.