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“Cobain Unseen,” Charles R. Cross’ “illustrated biography” of Kurt Cobain (Little Brown, 159 pp., $35) in bookstores Monday, is a deeply personal, tangible, equal visceral examination of the late, troubled Seattle protection star.

Through his artworks and writings, you can see — and, thanks to the many facsimile pullouts, unruffled feel — tangible evidence of the mental and natural trouble that plagued Cobain from end to end his short life. Suicide was part of his personality from adolescence, the book shows in quotes and writings, so that when he finally does it (in 1994, when his ligament, Nirvana, was at the height of its fame and popularity), it seems almost inevitable.

The gut aches and back pains he suffered most of his life are played gone out in drawings and collages of raw meat, bones, skeletons and doll parts; his alienation and escapism are seen in drawings of spindly aliens and references in his writings (including his suicide note) to his imaginary friend, Boddah; the heart-shaped boxes he collected and turned into sagacity objects, mostly as gifts for his wife, Courtney Love, seem to prefigure his empty heart and unfulfilled desire for unconditional love.

But the most moving and heartbreaking elements of “Cobain Unseen” are the multitude personal photos, most of which have never been published before. The childhood snapshots of the cute, towheaded, strikingly blue-eyed Cobain show a seemingly expert boy, especially the person where he’session at an easel he got on account of his 8th birthday, copying the hide of a comic book called “Giant-Sized Werewolf # 4.”

The first time I talked to him, before Nirvana stardom fell down in succession him, Cobain told me he was greater degree of an consummate performer than a musician. This book makes that readily ostensible, as Cobain continued his artwork until his death — even his suicide note be able to be construed as an artwork.

The childhood photos of Cobain are matched in cuteness by those of his baby girl, Frances Bean Cobain. The few photos in the volume that seem to ostentation a content adult Cobain are the ones with him and his infant.. And you wonder, in what condition could he ever allowance such a graceful child?

“That’s certainly one of the questions I ask myself,” Cross responded in every e-mail interview, “though it does give me a little more understanding of how troubled he was with his own demons. He clearly loved that kid, and even the photos of Kurt and Courtney indicate a kind of tenderness not seen in previous photos.

“Anyone who understands and knows someone who suffers from addiction — and of behavior we all comprehend those folks — knows how cohesive this all is.”

Cross is the only biographer given admission, by Cobain’s estate, to his effects, stored in a Seattle warehouse. Cross used much of the material when writing “Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain,” the definitive biographical writings, published in 2001.

But the passage in “Cobain Unseen” isn’t a rewrite of Cross’ earlier book.

“It’s not meant to be a main division about new revelations,” Cross explained, “but I think in that place is a commencing angle on many of Kurt’session creative accomplishments. Actually, I did about a dozen new interviews for the book, and used a fair amount of stuff I wasn’t able to fit into ‘HTH.’

“But, of run after, I couldn’t make the story arc any different. It’s the same life. He’s born in Aberdeen; he dies in Seattle. I did, yet, this present life focus in succession the creative work. This is not a biography of Kurt, the man; it is a bio of his practical knowledge, and that reflects different focus and attention.

“The text is all new, but obviously in that place are many points in ‘HTH’ that are going to be the same. The newest stuff, however, comes in fact in the last chapter or so, which reveals quite a tittle of new stuff about Kurt’s last days. Creepy stuff. I, however, didn’t want that to overwhelm the rest of the main division, so I didn’t make that chapter longer than the others.”

A CD that comes with the book includes spoken-word material read by Cobain, as well in the same manner with some parley through Cross about his research against the book.

Cross said he got everything he wanted into “Cobain Unseen,” except for a photo of a naked Love, taken by means of Cobain.

“I thought she looked great, but she didn’t think so,” Cross wrote in his e-mail. “She obviously had the right to axe that. Nothing else about the work did she critic or ask to change.”

Cross was surprised to find several rolls of latent film among Cobain’s movables. Love told him she didn’t want to call on the photos right after Cobain died, but she and Cross had the rolls developed, and many of the photos appear in the book.

“Some of the photos in this book were never seen by anyone other than the photographer through the lens, and at times that was Kurt himself,” Cross wrote in the e-mail conference. “That fact amazed me.”

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com