MAKER’s MONEY depicts the front and back of 368 one-hundred-dollar bills in their original size, ready to be cut out and used as counterfeit money. While the PDF is unproblematic, executing a print job would amount to the illegal reproduction of banknotes, whereby it is not clear who could be held legally accountable: MAKER, the buyer/orderer of a printed copy, the printing company, or the platform Lulu. There have been no problems yet, as Troll Thread would have expected.

To be on the safe side, there is a long prefatory note at the beginning of the book: “TROLL THREAD PRESS does not print nor draw profit from the printing of the manuscripts it distributes. Although TROLL THREAD PRESS does not discourage the use/misuse of these images, it can not be held responsible for misuse/misuse [sic] by this document’s printer.” This is followed by a detailed elaboration on the Counterfeit Detection Act, against whose regulations the present book clearly violates. This is concluded with an ironic note: “TROLL THREAD PRESS does not make money, has no money for a lawyer or a binding lawsuit, and thus interprets its compliance with the law to be legally just. For more information regarding the legal identity of MONEY’s maker as it technically belongs to the poetic contingencies of its printer, contact: the Public Affairs Office of the United States Secret Service.”

The book was made by Holly Melgard but attributed to “MAKER” in order to distract from any legal and subjective interpretations: “In a book this repetitive, putting my name on it would have conceptually organized it into a book about my money (of which I have little), rather than into a book of money, or a poem that makes money (which everyone insists poetry doesn’t do)” (Holly Melgard, HOLLY MELGARD READS HOLLY MELGARD, p. 11). The ambiguous title page, which reads in full: “poems for MONEY by MAKER,” declares the pages that follow to be poems.

As always, Troll Thread offers its publications as both a (free) PDF and by print-on-demand on Lulu. This time, though, there are two analog versions, one in black and white (cheaper) and one in color (more expensive).

Our copy has a binding error: The last page has strayed into the middle of the book. Also clearly visible is a crease in the book block, either due to poor storage or the transport packaging.