Ubu roi: Drame en cinq actes (King Ubu: A Play in Five Acts)

This stunning display of artistic bookbinding is perhaps the best-known collaboration between Mary Reynolds and Marcel Duchamp. Drawing upon his fascination with puns, Duchamp designed and Reynolds executed a binding of Alfred Jarry’s experimental and vulgar Shakespearian parody King Ubu: Drama in Five Acts. The play centers around a blundering, headstrong character named Ubu and his unsuccessful attempt to obtain political power. Jarry’s language is obscene but also features extensive word play, hence Duchamp’s inspiration for the design.

Both the front and back covers are cut into U’s that connect to a spine crafted with leather to form the letter B. When opened, the book’s cover and spine spell out UBU, with an imprinted gold crown visible through the front cover. The author’s name is debossed in gold on the back, visible through the space created by the letter U.

Play and humor were integral to Surrealism. The Surrealists’ attention to wordplay and puns traces all the way back to Freud’s theories on jokes, they viewed them as clear representations of the unconscious associations that humans create without any substantial logic. These associations lead to laughter—something effervescent and collective, and foundational to Surrealist methodology.