Charters, Samuel

A Note on the Varieties of Locust

Berkeley, CA: Oyez Press, 1987. First Edition. Signed by Samuel Charters to William Everson a.k.a. Brother Antoninus. Samuel Charters (1929–2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He was a widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz, he also wrote works of fiction. Born to a musically-inclined-middle-class family, Charters became enamored with jazz, the blues, rock and roll, and generally all forms of music from a young age. From the early 40’s-50’s while studying and playing jazz, Charters began to buy and obsessively collect old Blues records, which would eventually amass to an incredibly rare and valuable collection. In 1950, Charters sought out and studied jazz clarinet with the great George Lewis (1900–1968). Charters then became a producer, going on to record artists like Furry Lewis (1893–1981), Pink Anderson (1900–1974), Mississippi John Hurt (1892–1966) and perhaps most notably, Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912–1982); these recordings (along with Charters’ writings) would go on to revitalize many of these artists careers and re-insert them into the American canon. Outside of his Producing and recording career, Charters would go on to write prolifically about jazz and the Blues: The Country Blues (1957), Jazz: A History of the New York Scene (1962), The Poetry of the Blues (1963), The Roots of the Blues: An African Search (1981) among many many others. Offered today, however, is one of the rarer fiction works of Charter’s, 1987’s A Note on the Varieties of Locust. This work at once seems to blend abstract poetry with taxonomical analysis. While only a few pages, Charter’s work makes one feel as if they’re reading a work that goes beyond both the poetic and biological. A Note on the Varieties of Locust remains an incredibly rare and endlessly interesting work by a writer whose fictional forays were few and far between. Signed by the author on the first paste-down page in thin black ink, an inscription reads: “Dear Bill & Sue–Words from the Hawley’s dining room on the warm sunny day–Samuel Charters April 33 (sic) ‘87”, Bill of course being former-Catholic-monk-turned-legendary-poet William Everson [Brother Antoninus] and Sue being of course his wife who, as the story goes, is the reason Bill left the Clergy. Stapled wrappers. First limited edition, one in a run of 250 as stated at colophon. In very fine condition with minimal wear to fine edges, and light smudging/staining to front and back covers. Very Fine. [Item #6851]

Price: $60.00