Various (Amram, David; Corso, Gregory; Frank, Robert; Ginsberg, Allen; Kerouac, Leslie, Alfred et al.)

Pull My Daisy

New York, NY: Grove Press Inc. / Evergreen Books Ltd., 1961. First Printing. Softcover in Sewn Binding. "Here is the complete Kerouac text, with photos selected by Robert Frank from the film Pull My Daisy- a short cinematographic exhibition of "Beat" life in a Bowery "pad" on New York's Lower East Side, with spontaneous performances by poets Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Peter Orlovsky, painter Larry Rivers, composer David Amram, and other characters drawn from the highest echelons of Beat society. It is directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie in a departure from a screen play by Jack Kerouac." (from Back Cover). Among the most well-known, exemplary artifacts of the Beat Generation is the short film, “Pull My Daisy,” released in 1959 & with a tie-in book published a few years later in 1961. With the iconic Swiss-born American photographer Robert Frank (1924-2019) behind the camera & co-directed by the artist Robert Leslie (whose NYC loft is where the filmed action takes place), “Pull My Daisy” depicts some of the most important, influential figures of mid-20th century literature, art & music in a casual (albeit with an element of surrealism) setting as if the camera is among the participants looking directly at their doings. As Jerry Tanner, the late critic-editor of the legendary Village Voice, puts it in his introduction: "I suspect...one reason I like the movie: it shows me people I know doing the things they do. It shows me David Amram, for instance, whom I know the best of any here, exactly as David always is, all optimism and courtesy and unfaked sweetness..." (pg. 14) There is no recorded dialogue, & throughout the film is a narration by Jack Kerouac, along with its famous title poem by Ginsberg & Kerouac, an excerpt of which is sung by Anita Ellis to music by Amram. Kerouac's narration was initially based on the third act of his then-unproduced play, “The Beat Generation,” but became a spontaneous, ad-libbed performance. All of the above is transcribed in this book version, followed by many captioned still images from the film. Published as an "Evergreen Original" by the great, courageous Barney Rosset's Grove Press in association with Evergreen Books Ltd. (which published the first British edition a few months later), this copy is a first printing as stated on copyright page. Trade-format softcover original in sewn binding (see Kerouac bibliography by Charters, A16, pgs. 39-40; Ginsberg bibliographies by Dowden, Section B, pg. 34; Morgan, B14 a1, pgs. 104-105). A most rare & canonical collectible of the Beat Generation—and a must-own for Ginsberg & Kerouac collectors, especially. Book in near fine condition with only minor shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; minute rubbing & tiny, scattered nick-indentations to same; a few minor bumps varying in degree present at corners, though all mild; a true-to-form, faint Beat coffee stain-droplet near topmost fine-edge of front cover; a tad bit of bleed from the binder’s glue (from wrappers) present at spine-edge along interior front cover; binding still strong but potential fragility is intimated, as with virtually all copies of “Pull My Daisy”; interior handsomely clean and pages crisp. Near Fine. [Item #4822]

Price: $150.00