Co-published by Printed Matter and Art Metropole, THE SALiVATION ARMY BLACK BOOK brings together all ten issues of Treleaven’s infamous zine, This Is the Salivation Army, produced between 1996 and 2004. Bound into a soft black embossed cover and adorned with three black ribbon bookmarks and black gilt edges, the book features facsimiles of the zine, expanded texts, new collages, and prefaces by Genesis Breyer P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle and Scott Treleaven.

With it’s unique combination of punk aesthetics, Blakean mysticism and sexually explicit, radical queer posturing, the zine attracted press, suspicion, and a loyal cult following. During its initial three year run, the Salivation Army spawned a number of spin-off zines, set-up headquarters in Toronto, Prague, London, and New York, and held a series of public and private occultural events aimed at putting the Army’s magical theory into practice.

The zine went into hibernation, and after three years Treleaven released an account of his experiences in the film “The Salivation Army”, which is now officially considered issue #9 of the zine. Issue ten was released when Art Metropole published a “best of” compendium of the zine shortly after the film came out.

With the publication of THE SALiVATION ARMY BLACK BOOK, Printed Matter is thrilled to bring you the latest - and possibly final - incarnation of Treleaven’s decade long project. The collages, drawings, photographs, texts and testimonies from over fifty contributors bring the Salivation Army to eternal life even as the zine itself is seemingly being laid to rest.
This special edition comes with a signed and numbered black-and-white screenprint.
From Printed Matter’s Emerging Artists Publication Series.