9 issues of the magazine, each issue in a different format. Includes Nos. 1 - 9. Includes the famous No. 3. This issue was designed by Andy Warhol, and the box is modeled after Fab detergent, in bright colors. The contents are complete and include a flip book printed dos-a-dos with Kiss by Andy Warhol on one side and Buzzards over Bagdad by Jack Smith on the other side. Plus, a poster, ticket book, 12 pop art cards, and more. Issue No. 5 + 6 were produced together in 1 two-part box, and contains six 33½ rpm floppy LPs, a reel of Super-8 film, a set of black puzzle pieces, and printed essays. This set does not include No. 6a.
Apsen was a truly avant-garde magazine and was the first three-dimensional magazine. The letter from the editor enclosed in the first issue elaborates on the medium of magazine: "In calling it a 'magazine,' we are harking back to the original meaning of the word as 'a storehouse, a cache, a ship laden with stores." Each issue comprised of several pieces including floppy 33½ rpm LPs, chapbooks, posters, advertisements, and more. Aspen, named after the city in Colorado, only survived for 10 issues. This lot offers all but the No. 6a, and No. 10. With literary and artistic contributions by several avant-garde writers and artists of the day: David Hockney, Susan Sontag, John Cage, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Ossie Clark, Peter Blake, William S. Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, Lou Reed, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Rauschenberg.