Snyder, Gary

A Range of Poems (The Elusive First Edition of March, 1966)

London, England: Fulcrum Press, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. (McNeil, A13, pp. 24-28). Offered here is the first official “selected poems” by the great American poet, Gary Snyder (b. 1930), whose foundational contributions to the Beat literary project, as well as his ground-floor involvement in the San Francisco Renaissance, is well-documented. Gary has, and likely will always remain, the ‘safe’ Beat to like: his deep erudition, legacy of environmental foresight, and forerunning openness to the East and ‘global South’ (regarding the arts, philosophy, and literature), for example, endeared him to American literary academics of the 1970s. While exceptions at the individual level were many, on the whole, the ‘respectable American literary establishment’ (and its institutions of higher learning) remained reticent to admit that the Beats were “for real.” In the 1970s, especially, it needed an emissary or envoy to the world of institutions that was NOT Allen Ginsberg, — and some feared that when Allen came to town for a reading, there would be a public shedding of clothes, as well as sexual labels. What was needed, in essence, was a series of trust-building interactions: someone who the academicians wouldn’t mind bumping into at the faculty lounge & proverbial water cooler. Given these hesitancies, who wouldn’t have sent Snyder as their envoy? It’s true that no invisible puppet master was consciously architecting things in such a manner — even the great Allen Ginsberg, the angelheaded Ad-Man himself, — did not consciously propose instrumentalizing Snyder as a means to legitimation (in the eyes of the Academy). However, “Honey, I Think the Beats Have Brains” was the conclusion eventually arrived at by the Academy: so, it is both logical and thought-provoking to suggest that Snyder & his work play a silent role such as this in the movement’s eventual legitimation (i.e., as a matter of scholastic inquiry). This work, A Range of Poems contains sections from Riprap, Cold Mountain, Myths & Texts, The Back Country, and Miyazawa Kenji (Translations). In its capacity as a survey of Snyder’s finest work up to that point, — he implicitly intends to continue to build on what he’d built himself into, if you will: to provide an illustration of his growth & trajectory. The New American Poetry was here to stay, and here was one of its young giants, getting his oeuvre into print in England (in a major way, at least) for the first time. From the collection of Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with John Sinclair) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. Hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: “First Edition March 1966,” per copyright page. Book in Near Fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning & artifacts similar to these present variously throughout (e.g., some mild-to-moderate fading, browning & staining to/at/along at fine-edges & corners of verso & recto board extending slightly into text block, but all generally more of the ‘mild’ than the ‘moderate’ variety; interior clean & unmarked excepting only a provenance-enriching romantic gift inscription from Eichele’s first wife to the great American Mimeograph Revolutionary. Gift inscription, in thin black pen ink, reads: “To / my / [illegible] / on October 11, 1966 / When I loved / you and when / things looked better / Love Love / Love / Madeline / Dail.” Dust jacket is in fair-to-good condition with moderate-to-enunciated shelf-wear, chipping, light-to-moderate vertical, as well as horizontal creasing in isolated, short, since-flattened bursts & moderately sizeable open tear to top left-hand corner of front cover; some age-toning, sunning, and similar wear to text block, otherwise clean. While by no means a perfect copy, its incredible provenance combined with the fact that it is among the elusive "True First Edition, First Printings" of Snyder’s make this listing a special treat for both established readers, scholars, and fans of Gary’s & newly initiated admirers, alike. Near Fine / Fair-Good. [Item #7221]

Price: $65.00