[De Stijl] Antony Kok (1882-1969). (Three aphorisms in pen).

Three manuscript aphorisms numbered I-III, six lines (2x) and five lines, on two sheets of 8 x 5.5 cm., i.e. a C.&A. receipt ("C.&A. cassa 8") dated in print "Apr. 2" and the label of a piece of clothing size 50 1/2 model 01 21 from the same store, all dated 8/5 '52 in pen, the label with signed dedication "Aan Jan Van Riel van ziel tot ziel Antonie Kok 8/5 '52", the receipt with the saying "Bezinning door herinnering" with the same date.

The receipt with central rusty staple, the label with traces of a staple to the edge and foxing in the middle. Kok almost certainly separated the receipt and the label in order to write the aphorisms down. Antony Kok was an experiment writer, especially in sound poetry, and co-founder of the progressive periodical De Stijl (Wikipedia), which moved to Haarlem in the year he wrote these aphorisms. The aphorisms were possibly written for the departure of the much younger Jan van Riel (1907-1988), an artist-friend who lived in Tilburg, as did Kok. Kok's nearly ten thousand unpublished aphorisms, mostly made in the 50s and 60s, were collected by him and donated to the Letterkundig Museum in The Hague (Tilburg Wiki). We were unable to trace whether our aphorisms were known and/ or published. See: A. Kok, Gedichten & aforismen. Een keuze uit de gedichten en aforismen van Antony Kok. Bezorgd en van een nawoord voorzien door Jef van Kempen (Tilburg 2000). (total 3 aphorisms on 2 sheets)