Bits and Pieces by Malcolm Yorke – Signed & Inscribed to Rigby Graham, Private Publication, 2014
 
Provenance & Significance
 
This scarce booklet, Bits and Pieces by Malcolm Yorke (2014), is particularly desirable as it carries a personal author inscription to the artist Rigby Graham on the half-title page:
 
“For Pat & Rigby. Malcolm.”
 
This book was together with other items bearing Rigby Graham’s name, so the inscription ‘Rigby’ can be confidently identified as him.
 
The connection between Yorke and Graham is both professional and personal. Yorke was Graham’s biographer, authoring Against the Grain: The Life and Art of Rigby Graham (2015), and he also collaborated with Graham on Rigby Graham Sketchbook Drawings (2004). This inscription demonstrates a tangible link between the two men, adding depth to its provenance.
 
The booklet itself was privately produced by The Trouser Press, Newcastle upon Tyne in 2014. It appears to have been a limited or personal publication, not widely distributed, making surviving copies especially uncommon.
 
Exterior Condition
 
Bound in glossy paperback with a colour photograph of “Timba” the lion on the front.
Cover titles are crisp and clear.
Light wear only to the edges, with the binding intact and robust.
Overall, the exterior presents clean, bright and very well preserved.
 
Interior Condition
 
Pages remain bright, clean, and tightly bound.
No rips, creases, or annotations.
Author’s inscription in ink to Rigby Graham on the half-title page.
All 57 pages are present, including:
On Being Seventy
It's Grim up T' North, Darling
Them Old Man Blues
What the Eye Does Not See
Dives and Lazarus
A Finnish Heart Attack
Fifty Shades of Grim
The Folk Singer
Sledging
The Poor Teacher
Man to Man
Darras Hall
The Intaglio Print
 
Minimal handling wear; an exceptionally neat copy overall.
 
Rarity & Collectability
 
This booklet combines:
Scarcity – a private or small-run publication, rarely seen on the market.
Provenance – inscribed to Rigby Graham, making it a direct association copy.
Literary and artistic significance – linking Malcolm Yorke, an art historian and writer, to Rigby Graham, the notable British painter and book illustrator.
Together, these qualities make this an appealing addition to collections of modern British art, private press works, or association copies tied to Rigby Graham.
 
Item Details
 
Author: Malcolm Yorke
Title: Bits and Pieces
Publisher: The Trouser Press, Newcastle upon Tyne
Date: 2014
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 57 pages
Dimensions: 21.1 × 14.8 × 0.5 cm
Weight: 107 grams