City Lights Review No. 6: Ends & Beginnings (1994)
ISBN: 0872862925
San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1994. First Printing. Softcover. The sixth number of the literary & cultural-political journal edited & with contributions by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), published by his iconic City Lights Books imprint. For our purposes, this issue is most distinguished by a transcript of William S. Burroughs' speaker-amplified telephone call to an audience at the Beat Generation Conference held at New York University during May 1994 (pgs. 26-29). This writer attended the NYU conference & was in the audience for this event. Less than a year later, I paid a visit to WSB in person, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is fully described in my published essay Back at the Pond (see our item No.s 1446, 1447,1613, 3621; also posted on our site). "El Hombre Invisible," Founder's Founder of the Beat Generation & the Patron Saint/Demon of our enterprise, lived up to his aloof reputation with only his voice present at the Conference, which delivered a quintessential seasoned monologue that can be savored in this transcription. Shoaf, Section II, No. 320, pg. 107; Schottlaender, C629, pg. 87. Also in this issue are contributions of (mostly) poetry & prose by Andrei Codrescu, Ferlinghetti, Barry Gifford, Allen Ginsberg (WSB's Fellow Founding Father, intimate friend & colleague), James Laughlin (poet & legendary New Directions publisher), Kay McDonough (member of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance, see our item No.s 3071, 3075), Arthur Rimbaud (facismile of his 1877 hand-written letter to the U.S. Navy), Ed Sanders (the great Beat-&-Beyond poet & publisher who if memory serves made the onstage phonecall to WSB noted above), Allen Tobias (Ginsberg's assistant & our esteemed colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu), on his memories of Carl Solomon, dedicatee of "Howl"), Beat-New York School Goddess Anne Waldman (also an EBSN participant) & many more. With notes on contributors; a few photographs, illustrations & contemporary ads, including for the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Trade-format softcover, from the collection of Brian Schottlaender, author of "Anything But Routine," the most complete & up-to-date WSB bibliography now in its fourth ever-expanding online edition. We always consult our good friend Brian's ABR for all our WSB-related rarities, as above. A key issue in this important City Lights- Ferlinghetti series, of especial significance to the WSB collector & with distinguished provenance. In good-to-near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, scratching, creasing & occasional spotting to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; mild rubbing & spotting to upper & side edges of text block; mild rubbing only to lower edge of same. Interior fine with only mild rubbing, sparse spotting & creasing to blank inner covers esp. front cover; small creases, tiny bumps & occasional spots at/ near corners of some page leaves. Good- Near Fine. [Item #4625]
Price: $35.00