''A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel'' is an

altered book An altered book is a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning. An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and modifies it in any ...

by British artist Tom Phillips, published in its first edition in 1970 and completed in 2016. It is a piece of art created over W. H. Mallock's 1892 novel ''A Human Document'' whose title results from the partial deletion of the original title: ''A Hum~~an doc~~ument''. Phillips drew, painted, and

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

d over the pages, while leaving some of the original text to show through in the form of

erasure Erasure may refer to: Arts and media * Erasure (duo), an English pop group * ''Erasure'' (album), 1995, by the British group Erasure * Erasure poetry, a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text * ''Erasure'' (novel), ...

. Through this process, ''A Humument'' is a new story with a new protagonist named Bill Toge, whose name appears only when the word "together" or "altogether" appears in Mallock's original text. From being created over many decades, it follows a

nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...

, and in recent editions Phillips has rewritten pages to include references to modern history that in part appear to be

anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common typ ...

Background

When asked about the book, Phillips replied:

"It is a forgotten Victorian novel found by chance ... plundered, mined, and undermined its text to make it yield the ghosts of other possible stories, scenes, poems and replaced the text e'dstripped away with visual images of all kinds."

''A Humument'' was begun in the 1960s. In 1970, Tetrad Press put out a small edition. The first trade edition was published in 1980 by

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, which also published revised editions in 1986, 1998 and 2004; the fifth edition was published in 2012. Each edition revises and replaces various pages. Phillips's stated goal was to eventually replace every page from the 1970 edition. Phillips used the same technique (always with the Mallock source material) in many of his other works, including the illustration of his own translation of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's '' Inferno'', (published in 1985). The altered text has been sometimes used in "reconstructions" or "realizations" where artists create a work using the fragmentary text as a basis. For instance in the early 1970s, the Music Department at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

performed an opera, '' Irma'', devised by Phillips in 1969, whose lyrics and plot were based on ''A Humument.'' Tom Phillips created a digital version of ''A Humument'', A Humument App for the

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

, released in November 2010. The app was critically acclaimed, receiving favourable reviews in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' (22 Nov), ''

Eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

'' Blog (17 Nov), and ''

Design Observer Design Observer is a website devoted to a range of design topics including graphic design, social innovation, urbanism, popular culture, and criticism. The content of the site includes essays, articles, reviews, blog posts, and peer reviewed sc ...

'' (5 Nov). A version for the

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

was released on 17 January 2011. A "final" printed edition, extensively reworked by Phillips, was published by

in 2016, and reviewed by Clare Pettitt in ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

''."Strange labour", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 31 March 2017, pp. 10-11

Notes

External links

Tom Phillips' official web site
*Adam Smyth,
Double Act
" ''London Review of Books'', 11 October 2012 (review of fifth edition). {{DEFAULTSORT:Humument, A Artists' books 1970 books Experimental literature Thames & Hudson books