Kallman, Chester

Storm at Castelfranco

New York, NY: Grove Press, 1956. First Edition. Softcover. “He rode forth armed: breastplate and crest/And science; he rode forth dressed/To kill, but death was in his eye,/Death in his heart; under the family crest/Hemmed in, unwilling to escape, was death;/And when he thought, he knew he was to die./He rode forth armed: sense, experience,/Self-interest, and impatience/For a quick wooing, hid his thirst/For love; and, wanting that experience,/He charged upon his enemy with love./He loved, he died. No one knows which came first.”—Chester Kallman, “A Romance” (pg 23). Chester Kallman (1921-1975) was a poet who epitomized the phrase “quality over quantity”. Throughout his career, Kallman only published three collections of poems: “Storm at Castelfranco” (1956); “Absent and Present” (1963); and “The Sense of Occasion” (1971). Kallman also wrote a number of libretti, and translated a dozen already existing libretti, while he was the assistant to W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Kallman’s reserved, often melancholic style mixed with his willingness to play with structure gives “Storm at Castelfranco” a complex yet inviting, if not slightly lamentful, bend. Kallman is truly a poet's poet, and “Storm at Castelfranco” is the perfect volume for fans of Bukowski, Jeffers, and Burroughs. From the collection of scholar, artist and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with John Sinclair) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. Eichele's signature can be found near the top of the front endpaper: "R. Eichele". Softcover: First Trade Softcover Original edition, though not explicated as such at the copyright page. Book is in very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges and slight smudging to front and back covers and slight yellowing due to age to same. Very Fine. [Item #5883]

Price: $80.00