A Fine Man, A Fine Book – Second Edition (1984)

Published in June 1984, this is the second printing of “A Fine Man, A Fine Book”.

It was produced by Felicia Rice and Mutant Drone Press.

It contains quotes from Post Office and some interesting drawings.

It is a small book measuring 2.75″ x 3.25″, but don’t you dare call it a miniature book.

I think Rice can best describe the book and its purpose:

“I printed the book to give out to all my fellow carriers as I was leaving the post office where I’d been working for six months. The post master was celebrated for his irrational and cruel abuse of authority. I can still go into that office and mention his name to the clerks at the counter, or to a carrier on the street, and they know exactly who Polzine is and his reputation. I believe he went on to head up one of those post offices where one of first the shootings took place. I have always understood “going postal.” Any organization which requires employees to wear uniforms is a paramilitary organization, and the post office is populated by vets whose consciousness and understanding of power was established during the Vietnam War. It can be a dangerous place. Trained from the age of 5 to view the “Mail Man” as a friendly and helpful, most patrons fail to recognize a hostile carrier. I know, I tried to share my bad attitude and received high fives and smiles all along my route.

It is not a miniature book (which are ludicrous), but a “palm book.” In the early years of the Labor Movement in this country, workers needed to pass information secretly, so small books were made to pass from hand to hand out of sight of the bosses. We were watched constantly in the P.O. and this violation of privacy immediately set up an us-them dynamic in which workers were there to rip off the bosses by stealing and cheating. What else do workers do?”

This copy is in Fine condition.

Box 31