[Item #3313] The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series. Robert Peters.
The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series
The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series
The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series
The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series
The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series

The Great American Poetry Bake-Off: First, Second & Third Series

ISBN: 0810812312;0810815
Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1979; 1982; 1987. First Editions. Hardcovers. First two volumes inscribed & signed by Robert Peters to James Perrizo. "Good criticism should keep readers awake. Good criticism should be humorous, outrageous, iconoclastic, alive. Good criticism should be insightful and seductive. It should expose the sham and the popular and direct attention to the neglected and the fine. I regard the critical pieces I've written as blood-congress, energy-induced, energy-informed, and energy-celebrating pieces...If my critical method has a drift, it is towards the informal and the funky. And no matter how bravura, lovely, and spectacular my essays may appear, I am trying to say a few things-- not simply do cartwheels to amaze my friends." (from "Preface: The Critic as Big Bad Wolf," volume one) Here are the first three (of four) contiguous volumes of compiled poetry criticism by Robert Peters (1924-2014), the great American poet, playwright, scholar & critic. Peters' acclaimed criticism gathered in these compilations encompasses the well-known exponents of many schools & eras (John Ashbery, Charles Bukowski, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Clayton Eshleman, Allen Ginsberg, Octavio Paz, Charles Plymell, Gertrude Stein, Diane Wakoski, Anne Waldman, Lew Welch, Walt Whitman et al.), as well as those most obscure, at least as poets, such as Leonard Nimoy. These are the first hardcover editions, without dust jackets as issued & with the same hilarious caricature-illustration of Peters by his daughter Meredith Peters on front cover of each volume in blue, red & green in their order. On the title page of the first volume, Peters has hand-inscribed & signed: "For Jim/ underline/ May 20, '86/ underline/ glad you saw/ The Countess (underlined)/ last Sunday-/ underline/ Love/ (signed) Bob P./ doodle-flourish (of flower?)." "Jim" is the late James Perrizo, an intensely devoted Beat-&-Beyond collector & scholar who was a friend of & frequent correspondent with Peters. The reference to "The Countess" is to Peters' one-person play, The Blood Countess, in which he performed in drag as the Countess. Also in the first volume, loosely between inner front cover & first blank page, is a large postcard promoting a work by a different author & publisher which was illustrated by Meredith Peters, with one of her illustrations on recto, circa 1980. This lovely piece of ephemera is included where we found it. On the title page of the second volume ("Second Series"), Peters has hand-inscribed & initialed, also to Perrizo & on the same date: "For Jim P./ in Michigan/ May 20, 1986/ underline/ doodle-flourish (of flower?)/ from The/ "Bake-Off/ Gourmet"/ (initialed) R.P./ same doodle-flourish as above." The first three of four cornerstone compilations of Peters' visceral, vigorous, most insightful & entertaining criticism, essential to Peters & poetry collector-practitioner-scholars; greatly enriched with this very special association, provenance & ephemera. All three volumes in very fine condition, very close to flawless-mint inside & out, with only a few light, small stains at spine of volume three ("Third Series"); postcard inside volume one also all but mint with only tiny bumps at corners. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Very Fine. [Item #3313]

Price: $100.00

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