HNH 1987: Book Cover

2006, silkscreened contract on brown craft paper, metal dispenser

Paper 18 inches wide.

Available in 24 inch sheets or full roll (1200 feet)

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Historically, the idea of Evil has been associated in particular with the "black arts," such as magic, sorcery, and microwaving. As it is, Humanitarians Not Heroes practices all the above.

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Somewhere down the road to enlightenment, Knowledge (itself neither good nor bad, only inevitable) became equated with the notion of evil. In the story of Doctor Faustus, from a German chapbook written four hundred years ago, the protagonist willingly offers his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for illuminating him to the great mysteries - and a date with Helen of Troy. It is not of little coincidence that one of the most common ways we accumulate knowledge is through the reading of books - often made from trees not unlike those found in the original garden. With this in mind, the 1987 HNH product is a 24” x 18” book cover made of brown craft paper, imprinted on the inside with a simple Contract exchanging Soul for Knowledge, which the buyer is free to consummate.

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Though Faustian in reference, the HNH version is ambiguous, not identifying who the “Knowledge Agent” is, but rather leaving that identity up to each individual. Thus we sheath our books to honor Choice, that implement of free will and experiential knowledge, which is rooted in complexities beyond the banality of good and evil.