Lamantia, Philip

The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia

New York, NY: University of California, Berkley, 2018. First Printing. Hardcover. “He was a visionary poet who ascended the heights of pure imagination, one who sought both intellectual understanding and spiritual transcendence. He was also a poet of vast erudition....[and] in his wide-ranging reading, he drew out the poetic essence of the sciences, philosophy, and history, which he then infused into his own writing. He welcomed (and sometimes provoked) visions, through such vehicles as meditation, religious ceremony, and psychotropic substances. His quest led outward as well as inward: in 1944, at age 16, Lamantia left high school in his native San Francisco to join the company of war-exiled Parisian surrealists in New York; and through the 1950s and 1960s, he lived and wrote in Mexico, Morocco, France, Italy, Spain, and Greece. Throughout his poetic itinerary Lamantia would traverse the ecstatic space between writing poetry and religious mysticism, at times rejecting both, then discovering aspects of one within the other—until finally, in the last decade of his life, arriving at a synthesis of scholarly erudition and spiritual discernment” (Abridged Quotation from Introduction). Offered here is the landmark, long-awaited, existentially heroic “Collected Poems” of Philip Lamantia (1927-2005), published by University of California, Berkeley in 2013. I’d be remiss to arc this curation to a close without a supplementary flourish in praise of the volume’s editors (Garret Caples, Andrew Joron, and Nancy Joyce Peters [the poet’s widow, and Owner-Emeritus of City Lights Books]). The first-quoted (& somewhat ambiguously authored) Introduction (“High Poet: The Life and Work of Philip Lamantia”) is almost a high-density Cibola unto itself; worthy, alone of the price of admission. One might well expand this compliment of categorization to the short foreword by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), who in these parts needs no introduction. These poems are something like communion wafers; through some miracle of Beat-Surrealistic transubstantiation, Lamantia makes like Ferlinghetti (See, TMB Item #5136] and is here found “signaling you through the flames.” [978-0-520-26972-9]. Hardcover in dust-jacket: stated First Edition (“The first collected edition of this poet’s work, including 6 poems that have been out of print for more than 40 years”), per copyright page; First Printing, as indicated by number sequence, thereon. In very fine condition with only minute shelf-wear to fine-edges of front, back covers & spine; light-to-modest rubbing to front, back covers of same, else pristine. Dust-jacket in strong fine condition with only moderate shelf-wear, light horizontal creasing-crinkling to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; light rubbing to select locales at/along same. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #5343]

Price: $35.00