San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1962. First Edition, First Printing. Softcover. “A pipe of kif before breakfast gives a man the strength of a hundred camels in the courtyard.” (Nchaioui Proverb; title page). A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard is a collection of short fiction by American expatriate and author Paul Bowles (1910-1999) published by Beat Generation acolyte Lawrence Ferlinghetti's (1919-2021) City Lights Books in 1962. The volume was..... More

Santa Barbara, CA, USA: Black Sparrow Press, 1981. First Trade Edition. "He arrived in Tangier at noon and went straight to the house. In the rain the outer courtyard was uninviting. Several dead banana plants had fallen over and been left to rot on the tile floor. Even as old Amina, seeing him from the kitchen doorway, waddled out into the rain to greet him, he was aware of the..... More

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1969. First Edition. Softcover. “’Ah, said Hassan, I don’t believe in the world. There’s another world where life is different.’ These are stories of that world. The word m’hashish (equivalent in Moghrebi of ‘behashished’ or ‘full of hashish’) is used not only in a literal sense, but also figuratively, to describe a person whose behavior seems irrational or unexpected. The tales here deal with..... More

Chicago, IL: Big Table Inc., 1959. First Edition, First Printing. Softcover. "Dear Allen: On my way back to Bogota with nothing accomplished." (William S. Burroughs, pg. 44). The second issue of the renegade publication, edited by Paul Carroll (1924-1996) & created in reaction to the suppression of then-controversial literature proposed for inclusion in The Chicago Review. This issue contains "In Quest of Yage" (pgs. 44-64), the first appearance of excerpts..... More

Elmwood Park, IL: John O'Brien, 1982. First Printing. "The only thing that makes life worth living is the possibility of experiencing now and then a perfect moment..." (Paul Bowles, “The Spider's House”). This early issue of the venerable literary journal chiefly edited & published by John O'Brien (1960-1994) is sub-titled the "Paul Bowles / Coleman Dowell Number" & features interviews, essays & various appreciations of these two most important, daring..... More

New York, NY, USA: Stroker, 1981. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. This number of the literary-art-cultural journal edited by NYC St. Marks Place underground denizen Irving Stettner (1922-2004) features a "20 Page Henry Miller Section" (front cover, pgs. 20-39) with facsimile holograph letters from & to Miller (1891-1980, the great American author & artist whose earlier works were an influence & inspiration to the Beat Generation), facsimile typewritten Miller letters, an..... More

New York, NY: Stroker, 1986. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. “I have not mentioned the real villain, the television set. This hypnotic form of idiocy really has the country by the balls. Our television, or the fare offered, is both the best and the worst. Anything for a buck, as the saying goes. And it is in front of these sets that our youth receives its real education. Over a hundred..... More

Shavertown, PA: Stroker, 1995. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. This number of the literay-cultural-art Journal edited by NYC St. Marks Place underground denizen Irving Stettner (1922-2004) features a deep, variously insightful later discussion/interview with Paul Bowles (1910-1999), the Great American-expatriate Beat-&-Beyond author & composer, conducted by Charles Sheldon during June 15, 1993 at Bowles' home in Tangier, Morocco (pgs. 6-13). Also in this issue are contributions of poetry, prose & illustration..... More

New York, NY, USA: Stroker Magazine, 1987. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Presented here is issue 35 of the literary-art-cultural journal edited by NYC St. Marks Place underground denizen Irving Stettner (1922-2004) featuring (as does almost every issue in this series) contributions by Henry Miller (1891-1980). Other contributions include “Prose, Poems and Ink drawings: selected from Stroker back issues, plus new work” from habitual contributor Tommy Trantino (b.1938); a letter from..... More

New York, NY, USA: Stroker, 1979. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. (Shifreen & Jackson, C634-C638, p. 826). In the late 1970s, Henry Miller (1891-1980) wrote the following adulatory passage to Irving Stettner (1922-2004), the great Brooklyn, NY-born poet, publisher, and watercolorist: “It makes me feel good to know there is a comparatively unknown little magazine in the heart of Second Avenue (ghetto to the world) in which l am granted full..... More

New York, NY, USA: Stroker, 1981. First Edition. “The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” Henry Miller. “Stroker” was a magazine of literature and arts that ran from 1974 to 1994. It was published from New York – and later from Nagano, Japan – by American artist and author Irving Stettner (1922-2004). Stettner, a friend of Henry Miller’s..... More

New York, NY: Stroker, 1984. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. “Dear Irv — Got your lovely water color yesterday. […] Did I tell you my son quit work as my general manager and now has also refused to be an executor of my estate when I die? Gave me a little upset at first — but I made three jolly watercolors anyway. Your latest is a dance, une danse joyeuse, avec..... More

Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1994. First Edition. Hardcover. Described by its author as an "interpretive biography," Caponi's "Paul Bowles: Romantic Savage" aims "...to penetrate the underlying imaginative structures common to all and then to link them to a larger cultural context." In crafting the work, Caponi "...relied heavily on Bowles' autobiography, "Without Stopping," to a great extent. I have done so for two reasons: first, through family letters..... More