The composer John Cage was also a passionate mycologist. He even sold the fungal fruits of his foraging to the Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan. In 1972, he wrote a limited-edition book about mushrooms with Alexander H. Smith and Lois Long. Now the “Mushroom Book,” a reproduction with lithographic illustrations, anecdotes, poetry and even authors’ scribblings, has been reissued in a boxed set with “A Mycological Foray by Cage and others. The collectors edition, limited to 500 copies, also includes a box of postcards with Cage’s mushroom recipes; the regular edition of 4,500 omits the recipe box.
“John Cage: A Mycological Foray — Variations on Mushrooms,” Atelier Éditions, $55, limited collectors edition with recipes from atelier-editions.com; regular edition sold in bookstores starting July 21.
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