John Furnival – Untitled (Unfolder)

John Furnival (1933–2020) was a key figure in the development of experimental poetry. In the early 1960s, he explored the literary potential of folded paper structures and of processes of unfolding. He worked extensively with Ian Hamilton Finlay on new ways of devising visual poetry, and in 1963, together with Dom Sylvester Houédard, he founded the press Openings at his home, Rooksmoor House (Woodchester, Gloucestershire). The press published a variety of folded poem-objects by poet-artists who are now internationally renowned, among them Ian Hamilton Finlay, Augusto de Campos, Hansjörg Mayer, Tom Phillips, Louis Zukofsky, Edwin Morgan, Richard Kostelanetz and Ernst Jandl.

Untitled (Unfolder), one of Furnival’s own folded poem-objects, was originally published in 1967 in issue 30/31 of the experimental journal OU. Revue de Poésie Evolutive, edited by Henri Chopin, the legendary French-British sound and typewriter poet.

The sleeve of this reissue resembles a vinyl record sleeve – a nod to OU, which often included a record across its various issues. The poem-object is accompanied by a two-page essay by Christoph Benjamin Schulz, ‘Folded poem objects in the work of John Furnival’ (in English only).