Shull, Nate

I Am What's Around Me/ Soy Mis Alrededores: Poems from Mexico

ISBN: 1883197171
Cullowhee, NC: New Native Press, 2002. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers in Attached Over-Wraps. Signed by publisher Thomas Rain Crowe. "My tiny-handed friend, laughing./ Laugh as you throw yourself into the wind, and spin-/ cloud-burst joy booming from the pools of your eyes./ Laugh because you've been in this world for three whole years/ and it can't scare you away." ("Lupita," unpaginated) A collection of poems by Nate Shull, then a young college student in Indiana, inspired by his travel to Mexico. In his introductory "Letter from Xalapa," Shull mentions that he has been reading the early work of Jack Kerouac, & there is definitely a spontaneous Kerouacian-Beat sensibility to these poems. In the short biography on rear flap, it is mentioned that this is Shull's first book. We have seen no reference to any further published works by him, & wonder what became of this most promising young poet who would now be approximately forty years old as of this writing. All text in English except for title translation & some poem titles. A beautiful chapbook production of New Native Press (a part of its "Stewardship Series" as listed opposite title page), the imprint of Thomas Rain Crowe, the acclaimed poet & publisher who was at the center of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance during the 1970s (see our book, Starting From San Francisco, Item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). Stapled wrappers with illustrated over-wraps attached at flaps, featuring color reproductions of (uncredited) photographs depicting a Mexican landscape on front cover, & the author therein on rear flap, both affixed to surfaces. Per colophon, this copy is one of an edition of 200 published during the summer of 2002, of which 50 copies were numbered & signed by Shull. This copy is from the 150 that were not numbered or signed by Shull, but on the copyright page, below & next to reference to himself & NNP, Crowe has hand-written his signature in bold blue ink. A rewarding, perhaps singular Shull rarity with publisher's association & provenance. In very fine condition with only very slight rubbing to front, back covers & spine of over-wraps; some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same & flaps. Interior very fine with only miniscule bumps at upper corners of page leaves; otherwise substantially mint. Very Fine. [Item #4165]

Price: $25.00 save 20% $20.00