Altered States: The Library of Julio Santo Domingo

Julio Mario Santo Domingo (1957-2009) was a collector and visionary who filled his homes and warehouses with the world’s greatest private collection related to the subjects of drugs, sex, magic, and rock and roll. A library of more than 50,000 items, it contained everything from rare manuscripts and photos to posters, bottles, letters, opium pipes, and pinball machines. Exploring the innumerable influences of mind-enhancing drugs on art, science, and politics over the centuries, Santo Domingo’s collection contained work by diverse figures including Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary, Sigmund Freud, the Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Allen Ginsberg, the Rolling Stones, Aleister Crowley, and many more. This extraordinary collection is vividly documented in Altered States: The Library of Julio Santo Domingo.

At once comprehensive and fantastical, informative and hallucinatory, this beautifully-designed book highlights pieces from the collection to create a visually stunning and endlessly surprising celebration of the Santo Domingo library. Shedding light on an often misunderstood force in history, Altered States is an unprecedented insight into the effect of drugs on life, politics and popular culture.

About The Editors:

Julio Mario Santo Domingo was born in Rio on October 20, 1957, the eldest son of Julio Santo Domingo, a Colombian businessman, and his Brazilian wife, Edyala Braga. Julio was raised in Colombia, moved to Brazil, then New York and finally Paris before he was nine. He studied law, then moved to New York to obtain a degree in comparative literature at Columbia University, the home of the Beats, whom he came to idolize. It was in New York that he met Vera Rechulski. They married in 1983.

Peter Watts has written for The Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian, Observer, New Statesman, Daily Telegraph, Uncut, Time Out and many more. His first book was Up in Smoke: The Failed Dreams of Battersea Power Station, published by Paradise Road.

Yolanda Cuomo is a designer and art director based in New York City. Her work has included publications on Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol and numerous others.