Lane, John

Quarries: Poems by John Lane

Davidson, NC: Briarpatch Press, 1984. First Edition. Sewn Wrappers. With hand-corrections by John Lane. "Even as a boy I begged to be drunk/ on immense stretches of emptiness-/ the earth laid open, gutted, then/ stripped of its hard belly of stone./ you could not keep me from the ragged edge,/ the eroding lip, the dry drop defining/ the limits of blast and cutters' craft." (title poem, first stanza, pg. 7) An early chapbook of poems by John Lane, the acclaimed South Carolinian poet, environmentalist & educator. The third title in publisher's Briarpatch Chapbooks series as noted on copyright page. Small-format production in sewn binding. Interestingly, there are five hand-corrections on pages 8, 16, 21, 23 & 24 respectively. Each correction is small but obviously critical, for example: In the line "a long arctic loon," the word "long" is underlined, & next to the line the word "lone" is written (page 21). These corrections effectively make this an author's copy, which Lane gave or sold to his friend, colleague & North Carolinian Thomas Rain Crowe, the esteemed poet & publisher who was at the center of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance, from whom we obtained this (see our book, Starting from San Francisco, item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). An exemplary Lane collectible, in a particularly rare form with significant association & provenance. In very fine condition with only light rubbing, occasional spotting & browning to front, back covers & esp. spine; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; light spotting to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps, creases to corners of a few page leaves; hand-corrections noted above (which enhance rarity & value of this copy). Very Fine. [Item #3600]

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