San Francisco, CA: Beatitude Press, 1976. First Printing. Single Sheet. A broadside-poster (measuring 8.5 x 11') advertising a Beatitude Magazine benefit reading that took place on June 21st, 1976, and featured several Baby Beat luminaries in concert with a few Beat predecessors. Among the predecessors, we have David Meltzer, for example — whose inclusion in Don Allen’s legendary anthology of 1960, The New American Poetry, 1945-1960 firmly established him as..... More

Berkeley, CA: Oyez Press, 1973. First Edition. Sewn Binding. Signed by David Meltzer to William Everson (a.k.a. Brother Antinonus). “Allow me these fragments/They are my poem/My poem is pieces/Here & there/Chips off the old blockhead/One wall cracks apart/Not from despair but rain/Plaster falling on the floor/Reminds me of a poem/I write whenever I get/Time to sit down.” ("I", pg 1) David Meltzer (1937–2016) was born in Rochester, New York, and..... More

Berkeley, CA: Oyez Press, 1967. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. The late-1960s, of course, saw the explosive reformation of social and sexual norms, especially as they applied to young people. “Free Love” happened, that’s for sure — but what also occurred was a new, “psychedelicized” version of monogamous coupling and parenthood. The factors that informed this latter explosion are culturally visible — (for ex., are promoted, variously, in the literature[s] of..... More

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 2015. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. “I can't say exactly when the idea for Two-Way Mirror came from, but when I told Bob about my plan to write a poetry primer, he agreed to take it on as an Oyez title. Maybe at every stage of age I thought I knew it all, or at least enough to taste it, and felt I could do..... More

San Francisco, CA: Discovery Books, 1959. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Inscribed, signed & dated by John Sinclair to Robin Eichele. "The heart sees/ what the mind sees/ what the eyes see// differently" ("Vision," unpaginated) The first published collection of poems by David Meltzer (1937-2016), the great American poet, musician & critical music writer associated with the Beat Generation & especially the San Francisco Renaissance. Chapbook in stapled wrappers, first edition..... More

San Francisco, CA: Sam Silver, 1976. Original Photograph. Single Sheet. “The original core group of those who came up with the idea and began to act on it were [Lawrence] Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), [Neeli] Cherkovski (1945-2024), Peter LeBlanc (b. 1930) and myself. Over time others became part of the organizing dynamic in one way or another…Neeli was the bullhorn, the provocateur, for the event—talking up the idea and later doing PR..... More

New York, NY, USA: Floating Bear, 1962. First Edition. Stapled Sheets. "Who am I to love | so deeply? As against | a heavy darkness, pressed | against my eyes. Wetting | my face, a constant trembling | rain." (first stanza, LeRoi JonesFootnote to a Pretentious Book, unpaginated). The Floating Bear, founded and edited by Diane di Prima (1934-2020) and LeRoi Jones (1934-2014, a/k/a Amiri Baraka), started in February 1961..... More

New Haven, CT: Yale Literary Society, 1963. First Edition. Softcover. “Now there is a Love of which Dante does not speak unkindly / Tho it grieves his heart to think upon men / who lust after men and run / –his beloved Master, Brunetto Latini, among them– / Where the roaring waters of hell’s rivers / Come, heard as if muted in the distance, / like the hum of bees..... More

Warwickshire, England: The Beat Scene Press, 2001. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. This vintage 2001 number of the magazine-format literary journal edited & published by Kevin Ring in the UK features an extensive special section about City Lights Books, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's iconic San Francisco bookstore & publisher, with a main article by Ring(?) & memoirs by David Amram, Ianthe Brautigan (Richard's daughter), Ann & Samuel Charters, Diane di Prima, Michael McClure..... More

Fruita, CO: Lithic Press, 2022. First Edition. Softcover. “Presented on the page as a textual collage in six parts, Meltzer alternates quotations from the I Ching with Greek philosophy and lyrics by the Supremes. He expounds on the teen appeal of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and touches on the artistry of Sam Cooke and showmanship of James Brown, among others. Weaving in and out of the music with..... More