Look Inside Richard Hell's East Village Tenement Apartment

"I had a transcendent experience three or four years ago when I decided I was going to finally dust my books, and had to take all of them down by hand. It was sublime. I couldn't restrain myself from going through each book. Every one had a whole story for me."

"This limited edition of the poet Bill Knott's 1971 book Nights of Naomi, featuring an illustration and inscription from the author, is my ideal of a printed book. There's nothing on any of the pages but the poems. The typeface is perfect."

Richard Hell moved into his East Village apartment in 1974 at age 24 while playing bass in Television, a proto-punk band that performed at CBGB. The rent was approximately $110 monthly, with unreliable heat but occasional rent collection lapses. Over five decades, he formed multiple bands including the Heartbreakers and the Voidoids, appeared in films, and transitioned to writing poetry, cultural criticism, novels, and autobiography. Now 76, he remains in the same rent-stabilized apartment, which houses thousands of books. His collection reflects his deep engagement with literature, with each volume holding personal significance. He recently collaborated with artist Christopher Wool on a visual art series called Psychopts, demonstrating his continued creative pursuits across multiple mediums.

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