San Cristobal, NM: Toad Books, 1971. Unknown priority; a title presumably reprinted at various times; this copy with "$5" in yellow to front cover. 212, [6]pp; b&w illus. Glued in illustrated wraps.
Attractive copy of this collection of writings by and about American psychologist-turned-psychedelics advocate Art Kleps (1928-1999) and his Neo-American Church: drug advice, church doctrine, interviews, legal summaries, reproduced articles, etc., marked throughout by Klep's anarchic sense of humor. Some content repeated and/or expanded upon from the earlier Neo-American Church Catechism and Handbook (1967), with illustrations throughout in black-and-white. Includes contributions from Timothy Leary, with whom Kleps spent much time at the upstate New York mansion familiarly known as Millbrook. In 1963, Kleps founded the Neo-American Church, which advocated for the use of marijuana, LSD, and other psychoactive drugs as vehicles of spiritual enlightenment; his efforts to gain exemption as a religious organization were ultimately rejected by a 1968 district court ruling, which found "little evidence in this record to support the view that the Church and its members as a body are motivated by or associated because of any common religious concern." This copy with a laid-in membership application card for the Neo-American Church, which by this time had relocated to San Cristobal, N.M.
Very good or better, with short splits to hinge ends, light soiling to rear cover.
