Sinclair, Iain (Snyder, Gary)

Kitkitdizze... Seeing Gary Snyder

Coventry, England: Beat Scene Press, 2013. Limited First Edition Thus. Signed by Iain Sinclair. "Coming through the woods, down a soft winding track, two minutes shy of the time we have been instructed to arrive, 10 a.m.. on a bright Sunday morning, we see the man already there in the clearing, his right hand on the dog's collar. Two minutes later, you feel, and he'd be gone. But this is the right person, undoubtedly, the one we have come to see." (first sentences, unpaginated) Iain Sinclair, the acclaimed British poet-scholar-documentarian, visited Gary Snyder, then 82 years old (now 92 as of this writing & still going strong!), in 2012 at his rural home in California. The encounter between Sinclair & the iconic primary poet of the Beat Generation/ San Francisco Renaissance resulted in this fascinating essay about Snyder's long literary life & associations with Jack Kerouac, Lew Welch & many others. An earlier version of this piece appeared in The London Review of Books under a different title ("The Man in the Clearing"), & ultimately became part of a book-length work published later in 2013 in the UK, American Smoke: Journeys to the End of the Light, along with texts regarding other Beat icons including Kerouac & William S. Burroughs. Chapbook in stapled wrappers with flaps, one of an edition of 150 copies issued in January 2013, hand-numbered at colophon & signed by Sinclair below his printed name, which he has crossed out, in red ink. This is copy No. 40/150. Another jewel of a rarity in this fine series by Kevin Ring's Beat Scene Press, publisher of the indispensable Beat Scene magazine (see the many issues & more among this series available here). In very fine condition with only a hint of rubbing to front, back covers & stapled spine; a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Very Fine. [Item #5095]

Price: $40.00