A facsimile edition of Derek Jarman’s sole, early, extremely rare poetry book A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, originally published by Bettiscombe Press in 1972.

Heavily illustrated from Jarman’s collection of postcards, the book combines text and visual imagery in a way which foreshadows his subsequent style as an artist and filmmaker. With the majority of the first edition having been destroyed by Jarman, this makes available again a missing, significant piece of his oeuvre.

The original reissue was published in close collaboration with Jarman’s biographer Tony Peake, and his long-time companion Keith Collins, who oversaw Jarman’s legacy and estate until his sudden death in 2018 after a short illness. 

The facsimile retains the book’s original format and size, with a silver mirror cover, and an image accompanying each poem, printed in a striking green ink. 

Additional material comes in the form of a Foreword and Afterwords by So Mayer, Tony Peake and Keith Collins.

Test Centre, co-run by House Sparrow Press publisher Jess Chandler, originally published a sold-out facsimile edition in 2014. House Sparrow Press are reissuing the book following the success of the 2022 publication of Jarman’s only narrative prose work, Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping. Part of the title of that story appears on the back cover of A Finger of Fishes Mouth in Jarman’s handwriting, and the two works are closely interlinked.