Various (Allen, Steve; Beck, Julian; Cage, John; Fancher, Edwin; Feiffer, Jules; Ginsberg, Allen; Hentoff, Nat; Krim, Seymour; Mailer, Norman; Tynan, Kenneth; Wolf, Daniel et al.)

The Village Voice Reader: A Mixed Bag from the Greenwich Village Newspaper

Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1962. First Edition. Hardcover. "The Village voice was originally conceived as a living, breathing attempt to demolish the notion that one needs to be a professional to accomplish something in a field as purportedly technical as journalism. It was a philosophical position. We wanted to jam the gears of creeping automatism...Those of us who started The Voice had long since been left cold by the dull pieties of official liberalism with its dreary, if unspoken, drive to put every family in a housing development and give each child his own social worker." (from "Forward (Onward and Upward)" by co-founder & editor Daniel Wolf) A classic compilation of articles from the early years of the very first "Alternative Newspaper," The Village Voice of NYC. Edited by co-founders Edwin Fancher & Daniel Wolf, this volume features the most fearlessly provocative pieces of the weekly journal from its beginning in 1955 through the publication of this collection in 1962, when "...Greenwich Village (was) that way out, Bohemian section of America located somewhere in New York City where tourists flock to gawk, teenagers crowd for kicks, and where everyone listens to poetry. "The Village" is beats and beards, art and jazz, intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals, the square, the hip, and the coffee houses. It is also a splendid residential district, a slum, an idea, a spirit, a fraud." (from front flap) With contributions by popular entertainer-host Steve Allen, avant-garde Living Theater founder Julian Beck, musician-philosopher John Cage, illustrator Jules Feiffer, Beat Generation Founding Father Allen Ginsberg, revered Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, the great Beat critical writer Seymour Krim, towering novelist Norman Mailer (who was an original investor & early contributor to the Voice), legendary critic Kenneth Tynan, & many, many more. This copy is from the original hardcover printing, first edition as stated on copyright page. The Grove Press/ Black Cat Book edition first published the next year (1963) is slightly shorter, differently formatted & missing a few items found here. An essential Beat-related literary collectible. Book in fine condition with only very minor fading & a few small spots to cloth of front, back covers & spine; slight warpage of text block at spine moving outward; moderate spotting to edges of text block, esp. upper edge; a few small areas of staining at bottom & esp. side edges of text block. Interior very fine with only warpage & text block issues noted above. Unclipped dust jacket in near-fine condition with moderate rubbing, browning, scratching & light creasing to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear, bumps & tiny creases at edges & corners of same, esp. spine; a few short, closed tears at spine edges & corners; area of water (?) staining at lower part of outer & inner spine & covers; a few small spot-stains at outer & inner middle area of spine. Fine / Near Fine. [Item #3140]

Price: $45.00