Duncan, Robert

Fragments of a Disordered Devotion

San Francisco, CA; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Gnomon Press/ Island Press, 1966. First Edition Thus. Stapled Wrappers. Signed, placed & dated by Robert Duncan. "Unkingd by affection? One exchanges/ the empire of ones desire for the anarchy/ of pleasures. But pleasures themselves/ one finds are not domesticated. And the/ troubles of the soul cast jewel-like/ reflections upon the daily surfaces." ("Unkingd by Affection," first lines, unpaginated) A collection of poems by Robert Duncan (1919-1988), the great American poet & author of the Black Mountain School- San Francisco Renaissance-&-Beyond. As Duncan notes at colophon/copyright page (recto of final leaf), "50 copies of these poems/ were multilithd and/ sent to friends for/ Christmas 1952 with/ individual covers done/ in ink and crayons.// The text has been/ newly drawn for this/ edition." Per Bertholf, seventy copies of the "Second edition, first issue" of this collection were produced & withdrawn from distribution during 1966 (No. A4(b), pgs. 29-30). The "Second edition, second issue" was produced in an edition of 500 copies later the same year, & this copy is from that edition, with all points in Bertholf, A4(c), pgs. 30-31. Chapbook in stapled wrappers, consisting completely of facsimile holograph writing & illustrations by the poet from front cover throughout. On the final leaf below the statements quoted above, Duncan has hand-written his signature just above facsimile drawn lower borderline in black ink, & below that line has written: "At Buffalo July 1968." From the collection of Robin Eichele (b. 1941), a noted Mimeograph Revolutionary poet who co-founded the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the legendary John Sinclair (1941-2024) & is our good nearby friend. Eichele undoubtedly proferred this copy to Duncan at a reading at that location only two years after publication. An essential Duncan collectible in its technically third-rarest, but practically rarest obtainable form, greatly enriched by Duncan's signature, place & date, & with distinguished provenance. In relatively quite fine condition with mild rubbing, mild-to-moderate fading, faint scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers & esp. stapled spine; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; staples just beginning to rust at outside with no discernable interior or exterior bleeding; mild rubbing, browning to edges of text block. Interior (again relatively) fine-to-very-fine with a hint of fading to blank greenish inner covers; light browning to page leaves, chiefly at blank margins/edges; tiny bumps, creases at corners of some leaves. Fine. [Item #6852]

Price: $100.00 save 15% $85.00