A twovolume publication on the mysterious object that inspired poetry art and unlikely artistic collaborationsFor nearly five decades a peculiar wooden object called the Slant Step was exchanged between artists from coast to coast developing a cultlike following and inspiring poetry art and unlikely collaborations. Artist William T. Wiley first came upon the original object at a salvage store in Northern California in 1965. Covered in worn green linoleum it looked like a footstool however its sharp slanted riser mystified Wiley and Bruce Nauman his student at the University of California Davis. Wiley purchased the found object and gifted it to Nauman who maintained possession over it until Richard Serra absconded with it from San Francisco to New York. In 1969 Sacramento artist Phil Weidman surveyed the first years of the Slant Step in an artists book that featured contributions by Nauman Wiley William Allan Richard C. Jack Edwards Jack Fulton Ray Johnson Steve Jongeward Stephen Kaltenbach Robert Leach Jack Ogden Frank Owen Ron Peetz Lawrence Dean Phillips Peter Saul Dorothy Wiley and William Witherup.On the occasion of its 50th anniversary Weidmans influential Slant Step Book is again available in a twovolume set. This longoverdue republication features a facsimile of the 1969 artists book and a companion catalog with new essays and visual responses by contemporary writers and artists such as Sarah LehrerGraiwer Dan Nadel Jacob StewartHalevy Terry Berlier Gordon Hall Corin Hewitt Aay PrestonMyint Jessi Reaves Mungo Thomson and Angela Willetts.