Manhattan Suicide Addict Kusama, Yayoi

First Edition. Octavo. Kusama's first novel, published in Tokyo the year after she voluntarily checked herself into the Seiwa psychiatric hospital. Strikingly illustrated with over 30 black-and-white leaves, blending abstract imagery with reproductions of her artworks. Amazingly, the novel has yet to be translated into English. Accompanied by publisher's catalogue, with production credits and a voluptuous quote from Kusama: "The motive that made me start drawing was stronger than myself, stronger than love, stronger than art, stronger than flesh. As my psyche and beloved lesions mingled, it decorated the very process of living itself" (translated from Japanese). Bright orange wrappers illustrated after a 1975 Kusama design; minor bumping to edges, thus close to near fine. In stylish orange jacket, featuring chapter titles printed in their English variants (e.g. "gonorrheal nebula declares sperm rejection" / "no suicide ward in earth general hospital") and a dramatic portrait of Kusama to inner flap; minor fading to spine, with small edge-tears and rubbing, else near fine. Complete with near fine obi, with small repair to verso. Rare, with only two OCLC records located in North America.