Various (Berrigan, Ted; Fainlight, Harry; Fowler, Al; Ginsberg, Allen; Harriman, John; Keys, John; Padgett, Ron; Rubin, Barbara; Sanders, Ed; Szabo, Bill)

Bugger: An Anthology

New York, NY: The Fuck You Press, 1964. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. “As the first publication in the new store, I gathered together an anthology titled ‘Bugger—An Anthology’ in November, with poems by myself, Bill Szabo, Allen Ginsberg (‘This Form of Life Needs Sex’), Ted Berrigan, John Harriman, Ron Padgett, Al Fowler, John Keys, and Harry Fainlight. Some of the Howlean ‘Best Minds’ of 1964….After the poetry readings at Café Le Metro poets began to congregate at Stanley Tolkin’s dance bar, called the Dom, located in the basement of the Polish National Home building on St. Mark’s Place between Second and Third Avenues. I thought of a line dance called ‘The Bugger’ right around the time of the anthology and tried to create a B Line at the Dom. Stanley came rushing out to stop the line just as it had successfully formed on a jukebox blast of ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’” (Sanders, “Fug You: An Informal History of the Peace Eye Bookstore, the Fuck You Press, The Fugs, and Counterculture in the Lower East Side,” pg. 112). Whenever Your Devoted Managing Curator has a demonstrably justifiable excuse to talk about Ed Sanders’ (b. 1939) bright-eyed influence on the development (and sum-total contributive cultural force) of New York City throughout the 1960s, he is made an ever happier man. The occasion presented by the curation of the item before you is one such justification, and TMB is proud to offer an item which embodies what one means when they talk of ‘relics of the trendsetting underground.’” Subtitled “an anthology of anal erotic, pound cake cornhole, arse-freak, & dreck poems,” this publication from Sanders’ Fuck You Press comes as advertised. For, nearly every poem or prose-poetic contribution in “Bugger: an Anthology” is devoted to the topic of “doing it in the naughty place,” to quote American comic and talk-show host, Bill Maher. A hallmark of Sanders’ countercultural marauding was the fact of its having been freckled by humor, and an eye-mind towards the comedic elements in life. As the trailblazing poet-publisher-rabblerouser once impassionedly relayed,” I learned…from thirty years of observing Allen Ginsberg to try to bring that spontaneity and creativity and pizzazz and elan into your activism, into the social concerns you have….to give them a patina of joy and happiness. Because, we cannot be dour, stodgy, claw-mouths out there chewing away at issues. We have to bring our vision of a new world, a better world, and our dancing shoes, into our social concerns.” While not the most literarily impactful of FUP releases, “Bugger” speaks to the three-pronged reality behind Sanders’ style. First, the political. The year is 1964, and there is little to be said for gay rights in the western world. The Beatles want to hold your hand, & Ed’s quietly issuing knee-slapping blows against the empire. It’s kind of remarkable. To this political angle we add the literary one: he was, in fact, publishing major mid-century American voices (of “the Beat Generation-&-Beyond,” as we say here at Third Mind Books). Through sheer vocational force, Sanders meteorically rose in the ranks of the counterculture; becoming a first-rate mover-&-shaker in a city that, historically, has yet to endure a shortage of them. “Bugger," then represents all three contributing aspects to Sanders’ life-&-legacy—the political, the literary, and the cultural, — and luckily (for the prospective buyer of this chuckle-birthing relic), it is among the more affordable offerings aspirant collectors of “Fuck You Press” material can obtain. And in closing, let’s meditate upon the phrase-&-admonition, both that Ed adopted-appropriated from William S. Burroughs—“TOTAL ASSAULT ON THE CULTURE.” Magazine in stapled wrappers: the first and only printing of this rarity-hilarity from Sanders’ storied Fuck You Press. In strong Very Good condition with moderate-to enunciated shelf-wear to fine-edges-&-corners of both front and back covers, slight bumping, chipping, and a few understated, or otherwise lesser-impact open & closed tears at varying locales along same; moderate-to-significant toning, browning & other age-related factors present at same; minute-to-moderate rusting, bleeding to staples at exterior; long-since flattened vertical crease running through length of wrapper at center-middle. Lastly, as is often observed by booksellers and archivists working with FUP material—the copy of “Bugger” shares a simple, afflictive fact of production also found in every other copy: that being its unassumingly fragile front cover wrappers. While its structural integrity is far from imperiled, we do suggest “handling with care,” when it comes to absolutely everything put out by the Fuck You Press. Very Good. [Item #5325]

Price: $175.00