Charters, Samuel

Of Those Who Died: A Poem of the Spring of 1945

Berkeley, CA: Oyez, 1980. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed, signed & dated by Samuel Charters to William Everson a/k/a Brother Antoninus "Of those who died/ I knew so little./ They had been only voices,/ voices in a conversation,/ only faces that I looked up into/ as the men sat thin and sunburned/ in the stuffy rooms/ talking to someone else." (first lines, Part I, pg. 1) A five-part poem by Samuel Charters (1929-2015), the acclaimed American poet, author & especially jazz musician-historian, who was the husband of Ann Charters- the supreme authority on Jack Kerouac & our esteemed colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). Charters himself served in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict a half-decade after the time in which this poem-memoir takes place, but by being only slightly younger than his uncles & cousins about whom he reminisces here, he was spared service in the Second World War- in which several of his uncles died. Large chapbook-format softcover in wrappers with front cover reproduction of a photograph of Charters in his Army uniform during 1951. An exemplary Oyez production, presumed first edition/printing though no information is provided at sparse copyright page or colophon. There is no reference to limitation, though we have encountered references to an edition of 1000 copies- a strip with this assertion, possibly from publisher but probably a previous seller, was been found between inner front cover & endpaper (see photos) though it has been lost after it was scanned. On the blank front endpaper, Charters has hand-written, signed & dated in black ink: "For William Everson-/ It was your poem/ "Weeds" that helped/ me find my way/ back to my own/ poem./ My regards,/ (signed) Samuel Charters/ September 1980." William Everson (1912-1994) was the great poet, critic & academician who was a key figure of the San Francisco Renaissance & acquired the designated name of "Brother Antoninus" while he was a Catholic monk of the Dominican order. Everson removed himself from the priesthood, married & became a stepfather in 1969, but continued his journey toward spiritual transcendence in his own way. A moving & important Charters collectible in its rarest, undoubtedly singular form, inestimably enriched by Charters' warm & profound poet-to-poet inscription, & with most-distinguished association & provenance. In relatively quite near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; several spots, spot-stains from left side & lower edges of back cover; mild rubbing, spotting to edges of text block. Interior fine with very slight rubbing, occasional spotting to blank inner covers; very small spot-stains from lower edges of a few page leaves; tiny bumps, faint creases at corners of leaves. Near Fine. [Item #6849]

Price: $75.00