Dorn, Edward

Twenty-four Love Songs

San Francisco, CA: Frontier Press, 1969. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "There is no final word/ for how you are./ An emotional response/ can be the reputation to/ which all inquiry is referred/ and let go at that.// Back Home, Back Home/ the day wakes up and once/ out the door into what's/ left of the fresh air it still/ comes clear/ how lovely/ love is there" (untitled poem No. 24, unpaginated) A collection of twenty-four song/poems on the eternal theme of love by Edward Dorn (1929-1999), among the greatest of the Black Mountain School poets along with his contemporaries/ mentors Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan & Charles Olson. A stately letterpress chapbook production in large wrappers (which are possibly a variant, some copies may have been issued in smaller-format wrappers), designed & printed by the venerable craftsman Graham Mackintosh (1935-2015). From the collection of the late Erin Black Matson, the artist-poet who with her then-husband the acclaimed poet & educator Clive Matson was a tried-&-true member of the Beat Generation- morphing into the hippie counterculture during the 1960s. The Matsons were protégé-colleagues (in lifestyle as much as literature) of a circle that included Herbert Huncke, Bonnie Bremser et al. Erin was a bona fide Beat-Bohemian to the end, as reflected in the well-used condition of this item (see below). A rare & rewarding Dorn collectible, with distinguished provenance. In relatively near-fine condition appropriate to its long tried-&-true-Beat ownership: mild rubbing, browning & mild-to-moderate spot-staining to olive-colored paper front, back covers & stapled spine (much less of the above extending into inner covers, mild fading to inner back cover); mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/ near thin edges & corners of same (side edge of front cover irregular as issued on handmade paper); small area at upper right corner with slight loss of paper (the probable nibblings of Erin's cats or other small creatures); staples in process of rusting with minimal interior bleeding. Interior block very fine with only rust-bleeding noted above; otherwise substantially mint. Near Fine. [Item #4719]

Price: $20.00