Various (Carroll, Paul (Editor); Rosenthal, Irving (Editor); Ansen, Alan; Ashbery, John; Breton, Andre; Bowles, Paul; Burroughs, William S.; Corso, Gregory; Creeley, Robert; Dahlberg, Edward; Duncan, Robert; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Genet, Jean; Golub, Leon; Ginsberg, Allen; Kerouac, Jack; Kline, Franz; McClure, Michael; O'Hara, Frank; Siskind, Aaron; Snyder, Gary et al.)

Big Table, Numbers 1-5

Chicago, IL: Big Table, Inc., 1959-1960. First Printings. Softcovers. Here are all five contiguous issues of one of the most important literary journals ever published: Big Table. A legendary response to censure & censorship by the mid-twentieth century American academic-literary establishment, Big Table was conceived by Irving Rosenthal, the editor of the prestigious Chicago Review. Issues of the review published in 1958 featured writings & excerpts by Jack Kerouac & especially William S. Burroughs that brought down the ire of conventional media & academia. By the time that the Winter 1959 issue of the Review was to be published, the University of Chicago, its patron & publisher, would not allow Kerouac's or WSB's contributions (Old Angel Midnight & excerpts from yet-unpublished Naked Lunch respectively) to be included. Rosenthal resigned & created Big Table, the first issue of which contains "The Complete Contents of the Suppressed Winter 1959 Chicago Review" (front cover). Thereafter, four more issues of this defiant, courageous journal were published under the editorship of Paul Carroll. We are honored to have obtained & offer original printings of all five issues: (1) Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1959, containing the two incendiary pieces by WSB & Kerouac noted above, as well as three poems by Gregory Corso, an essay & poem by Edward Dahlberg, notes on contributors, an editorial by Rosenthal that explains all that lead to this issue, contemporary ads, etc. This first issue was itself at first suppressed by the Chicago Post Office until a judge ordered that it be circulated, & is one of the most iconic collectibles especially in the WSB oeuvre (Maynard & Miles, C6, pgs. 111, 113). (2) Vol. 1, No. 2, Summer 1959, with "In Quest of Yage," a portion of the letters from WSB to Allen Ginsberg that would first be published as The Yage Letters by City Lights Books during 1963. Also in this issue are two now-classic essays about WSB by Alan Ansen & Paul Bowles, reproductions of two early-1950s vintage photographs of WSB (including one of him shirtless in a boxing stance!), an excerpt from "Kaddish" by Ginsberg prior to its complete publication, a poem by Surrealist Founding Father Andre Breton, the poem "The Great Chinese Dragon" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, reproductions of artworks by Leon Golub, & more. With notes on contributors, (particularly innovative & historic) contemporary ads, etc. (Maynard & Miles, C7, pg. 113) (3) Vol. 1, No. 3, 1959, with contributions by canonical American poets John Ashbery, Robert Creeley & Robert Duncan; as well as Jean Genet ("The Beggars of Barcelona" excerpted from his Journal du Voleur), Ginsberg (another excerpt from "Kaddish"), Norman Mailer, Aaron Siskind (reproductions of photographic artworks on covers & inside) & more. With notes on contributors, contemporary ads, etc. (4) Vol. 1, No. 4, Spring 1960, subtitled & featuring a special section of "The New American Poets" including Corso, Creeley, Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Frank O'Hara, Gary Snyder & many others. Also in this issue is the long poem "Europe" by Ashbery, WSB's "But is All Back Seat of Dreaming," essays on poets & their works by Creeley & Ginsberg, fold-out reproduction of an artwork by Franz Kline, & more. With a short bibliography of some of the "New" poets included in this issue, contemporary ads, etc. (Maynard & Miles, C16, pg. 114) (5) Vol. 2, No. 5, 1960, with poems by Ashbery, Duncan, O'Hara & others; prose by Paul Bowles (the wonderful short story "He of the Assembly"); the prose-poem "Archangel" by John Updike, & much more. With a short editorial entitled "Big Table vs. Post Office" (see above), notes on contributors, contemporary ads, etc. Among the ads is one that announces the upcoming "Big Table 6," which was never published. Trade-format softcovers in sewn bindings, all five issues of this astoundingly critical series, altogether comprising a cornerstone of Beat-&-Beyond literature. (1) in near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, browning, scratching & creasing to front, back covers & esp. spine; mild wear & tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; one long angled crease from upper right edge to mid-side edge of front cover; moderate rubbing, browning & scratching to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only slight creases & bumps at corners of a few page leaves; & complete with original loose subscription card in very fine condition with only light browning at/near bottom edge. (2) in near-fine condition with moderate rubbing, scratching, browning & light creasing to front, back covers & esp. spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; one thin, faint red ink line along middle of back cover (visible on Ferlinghetti's forehead); moderate-to-significant browning & mild rubbing to edges of text block. Interior fine with only moderate-to-significant browning mostly at blank margins & edges of page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. (3) in fine condition with only mild rubbing & scratching to front cover; more significant browning, brown-staining to spine & esp. back cover bleeding into inner back cover; very mild wear & a few tiny bumps & short, faint creases at edges & corners; mild rubbing & browning at edges of text block. Interior very fine with only light browning at blank margins of page leaves; tiny bumps & creases at corners of a few of same. (4) in fine condition with mild rubbing, scratching to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; mild rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only very light browning at blank margins of page leaves; small creases & tiny bumps at corners of a few of same. (5) in fine condition with mild rubbing & occasional tiny spots to front, back covers & spine; vey mild wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; mild browning & rubbing to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only very light browning at thin blank margins & edges of some page leaves; small faint creases & tiny bumps at corners of a few of same; complete with original loose subscription card in very fine condition with only light browning at-near top edge. Near Fine- Fine. [Item #3338]

Price: $400.00