Buckley, Richard Myrle (Lord Buckley)

Hiparama of the Classics

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1980 (1960). Second Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "To Lord Richard Buckley, his most euphoric Lordship, greetings! What a treat to hear your new shatterbusting recording delivered like a true hipster with variations...It's all so very alive and jumpin' and in the pauses one can hear the atoms exploding out there in the Milky Way where the grass comes up every once in ten billion years and there are no moth balls or frigidaires, no box office receipts, no railroads, no crucifixions rosy or otherwise...it is very far out, your Lordship..." (Henry Miller, abridged from quote on back cover) A transcription of seven monologues taken from recordings by the great cult-hipster entertainer born Richard Myrtle Buckley (1906-1960), a near-contemporary & kindred spirit of the Beat Generation. With his Lordship's inimitable take on the lives & words of Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Roman Emperor Nero, the Marquis de Sade, Mahatma Ghandi, Alvar Nunez Cabaza de Vaca & William Shakespeare. Transcribed from nightclub routines that were recorded on such LPs as "Hipsters, Flipsters & Finger Poppin' Daddies" during the 1950s. Hiparama was first published by the iconic City Lights imprint during1960, barely within his Lordship's lifetime, near or at the same period as the Pocket Poets Series classics we Third Minds all know & love. This copy was issued in 1980, & features an introduction copyrighted that year by Joseph Jablonsky which serves as an informative capsule critical biography. There is an entry for Hiparama in Ralph T. Cook's definitive 1992 City Lights bibliography (No. 24, pgs. 25-26), which refers to the first edition having been "reprinted several times," but which does not refer to this (effectively though not stated as such) second edition. We surmise that this is the third or fourth printing altogether of Hiparama, & most likely the first printing of this 1980 edition with added introduction. With front cover photo of Lord Buckley in performance by Jim Marshall; & a fascinating central two-page spread group photo captioned "Roy Eldridge, Lenny Bruce (reportedly), and Lord Buckley/ Monterey Jazz Festival 1959." Chapbook-format booklet in stapled wrappers. From the collection of Allen Tobias, assistant to Allen Ginsberg beginning in the 1960s, curator, critical author & scholar who is our good friend & esteemed colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). A collectible cult classic enriched by its City Lights pedigree & distinguished provenance. In near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, browning, scratching & creasing to front, back covers & stapled spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; mild browning, rubbing to edges of text block. Interior fine with only light browning mostly to blank margins/edges of inner covers & page leaves; tiny bumps, creases at corners of some of same. Near Fine. [Item #5291]

Price: $40.00