Various (Ring, Kevin (Editor); Bukowski, Charles; Burroughs, William S.; Cassady, Neal; Charters, Ann; Deakin, Richard; Drever, Robert; Hunke, Herbert; Joans, Ted; Kennison, Don; Kerouac, Jack; Kesey, Ken; McBride, Dick; Merrifield, Andy; Micheline, Jack; Plymell, Charles; Sanders, Ed; Smith, Winston; Waldman, Anne; Whalen, Philip et al.)

The Beat Journals, Volume One

Coventry, England: The Beat Scene Press, 1995. Limited First Edition. Softcover. "Over the past few years people have asked when are we going to reprint early issues of Beat Scene Magazine. The short answer is, we're not going to...But what we have done is collect some of the best material from those long gone issues in this slim volume here. Not all material was published in Beat Scene, some of it, like Dick McBride's story of a phone conversation with Jack Kerouac, appeared in our other magazine Transit. Some of it has never appeared anywhere...In these times the individuals who made up this myth of a 'Beat Generation' are to be cherished for their free spirit approach to life and their influence is felt everywhere." (from foreword by Kevin Ring) A compilation of interviews, essays & other writings from early issues of Beat Scene Magazine, its subsidiary publications & some theretofore unpublished. As we Third Minds are highly aware, Ring & the Beat Scene Press of the UK are the indispensable dispensers of torch-bearing Beat Generation-alia, & this collection is indeed the cream of its first crops: The deep & thoughtful essay "The 'Misery of Everyday Life' and the L.A. Realism of Charles Bukowski" by Andy Merrifield; an interview with foremost Beat-&-Beyond icon William S. Burroughs conducted by "Beat Scene" (most likely Ring himself); a memoir of Beat muse Neal Cassady by his San Francisco housemate, the Legendary Literary Outlaw Charles Plymell; an interview with the great, earliest Kerouac biographer & bibliographer Ann Charters (again likely conducted by Ring); a conversation with primary Beat & underworld mentor Herbert Huncke conducted by Don Kennison; excerpt from a letter from poet Ted Joans to Beat Scene; several Kerouac-related pieces including the McBride memoir referred to by Ring in his foreword quoted above & even a play about him by Richard Deakin (Angels Still Falling); an essay on Ken Kesey's life & work by Robert Drever; an interview with San Francisco Beat troubadour Jack Micheline (again likely by Ring); an interview with Beat-&-Beyond poet & publisher Ed Sanders (ditto); records of two dreams featuring Kerouac & WSB by Beat-New York School-&-Beyond poet-icon Anne Waldman; an essay-format interview with Beat poet- Zen Buddhist monk Philip Whalen conducted by Winston Smith (no relation to the Orwell protagonist in 1984 we presume) & yet more! With two vintage images of WSB on front & back covers. Trade-format softcover original, first edition as stated on acknowledgments page, one of 400 copies printed during June 1995 per inner back cover. Ring's exhortation for us to "cherish" these canonical Beats rings (so to speak) truer than ever over a quarter-century later- some of them were gone by then, now almost all of them have passed on- but they live on in their immortal words, some only to be found here. A most rare & important production, a particularly intensive exemplar of Ring's & BSP's motto: "This Is the Beat Generation." In very fine condition with only a bit of rubbing & faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps at upper corners of some page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #4279]

Price: $50.00