Various (Parkinson, Thomas (Editor); Ansen, Alan; Bowles, Paul; Burroughs, William S.; Corso, Gregory; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Ginsberg, Allen; Kerouac, Jack; Lipton, Lawrence; McClure, Michael; Podhoretz, Norman; Snyder, Gary; Whalen, Philip; Wieners, John et al.)

A Casebook on the Beat

New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961. First Edition, Review Copy. Hardcover. "When the beat writers emerged from San Francisco in 1956, they succeeded in touching off controversy and discussion throughout America which continue unabated today. Not only their writing,but their nonconformist way of life- with its special interest in jazz, Buddhism, drugs, and squalor- became a subject of general interest, discussed and hotly argued in a wide range of media. While some commentators were pleased to see that the tradition of revolt was not dead in America, others dismissed the "beat movement" as an aimless, nihilistic expression of youth having its fling." (from front flap) The early, now-classic anthology of writing by & criticism about the original founding members of the Beat Generation, edited & with a preface by Thomas Parkinson (1920-1992), a venerable academic, scholar & poet who was a contemporaneous appreciator of the Beats (& who incidentally was nearly killed by a deranged student out to murder "communists" during the very year this volume was published). With a first section of well-selected examples of poetry & prose by William S. Burroughs (including now-famously informative essays about his life & work by Alan Ansen & Paul Bowles), Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen & John Wieners. Following this is a second section of contemporary critical writings, pro & con, including an excerpt from Lawrence Lipton's pioneering study The New Barbarians & the now-infamously negative diatribe "The Know-Nothing Bohemians" by Norman Podhoretz. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition, review copy with loose promotional card announcing the stamped publication date of "Feb 27 1961" & noting that "Two clippings of your review will be appreciated." A sweeping & intelligently gathered contemporary compendium; a key collectible in the canon of Beat anthologies, especially rare with this reviewers' slip. Book in exceptionally very fine condition with only light browning & rubbing to edges of text block. Interior very fine with previous owner's Ex Libris label affixed to blank front paste-down; otherwise virtually mint. Dust jacket also exceptionally very fine with only very slight rubbing & browning to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, chips & short, faint creases at thin edges & corners of same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4086]

Price: $80.00