Various (Duprey, Jean-Pierre; Estrin, Jerry; Hutchinson, Bruce; Lecard, Marc; Moriarty, Laura; Nelson, Anne; Valaoritis, Nanos; Wainio, Ken; Zawadisky, Christine)

Vanishing Cab No. 3

San Francisco, CA: Vanishing Cab, 1979. First Printing. Folded Single Sheet. “Three Inspectors of Antiquities began to / question me as to which of the paintings / were real and which fake, all the while / stuffing huge piles of jewelry into their / pockets. I told them I wasn’t sure about / the paintings, / I hadn’t known Lenin painted / but that I thought most of the jewelry was / real. And they said they weren’t concerned / about that but they were sure the paintings / were real and shouldn’t I be paying more / attention to them, and I said yes, since / the assassin was now among them helping / himself generously to the jewels. / […] / Then he came to me & asked if he had done / well enough & were there any others I could / think of that needed to be dead. I said I / thought perhaps he’d misunderstood me and / that I wasn’t concerned with killing people / although I could come up with a few names / if he were really in need. Trotsky I said, / whatever happened to Trotsky” (excerpted from “Lenin’s Paintings” by Jerry Estrin, the sole editor of Vanishing Cab No. 3). Offered here is the third — and we believe final — issue of Jerry Estrin’s Vanishing Cab magazine, which he pioneered (& formerly co-edited) with Ken Wainio (1952-2006), who is key among surrealists of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. Wainio thus predictably appears here and is featured alongside seven other poets & one artist (named Bruce Hutchinson, who is credited with “Graphics” for this issue). Like other issues of Vanishing Cab, the commitment to surrealism (and what the surrealists, themselves called ‘the marvelous’) is clear in the editorial choices & inclusions here made. However, this is a vastly abbreviated representation of the SSFR’s surrealist contingent in comparison to the first and second issues of the magazine. That acknowledged, what makes this issue retain its editorial acumen, collectible allure, and ultimate uniqueness is the way in which it was printed. Folded into eighths, it measures appx. 9.25” x 6.25” when closed and 18.5” x 24.5” fully opened. All three issues of Vanishing Cab appeared in different formats (No. 1 — “magazine in stapled wrappers”; No. 2 — “large-format softcover”; & No. 3, “pamphlet-format magazine on folded single sheet”), and the continuous lightening of the contents page and ever-shifting shifting format certainly justify the use of the word “vanishing” so prophetically affixed to the magazine’s masthead, or title. All in all, a key artifact from the larger Surrealist sub-scene of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. The magazine’s contents (in full) are as follows: [1] “Lenin’s Paintings,” “Sandy Koufax,” & “Jacob,” by Jerry Estrin; [2] Graphic: “Rare Nesting of a Splice-Age Brrrrd,” by Bruce Hutchinson; [3] “Cinder Rose,” by Jean-Pierre Duprey; [4] “A Dozen for the Future,” by Marc Lecard; [5] “The Ballad of the Blue Light Bar,” by Laura Moriarty; [6] “Tell Me Who You Are” and “Howling,” by Christine Zawadisky; [6] “Morning,” by Ken Wainio; [7] “Physical Breaks,” by Anne Nelson; & [8] “Small Contribution to the Windmill Series,” by the beloved educator & noted Greek surrealist, Nanos Valaoritis (1921-2019). From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Pamphlet-format magazine on folded single sheet: the first-&-only printing (of the elusive Third Issue) of Vanishing Cab, — perhaps the most important surrealist magazine of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. In Very Good condition with light-to-moderate shelf-wear, rubbing, and some light bumping; similarly mild-to-moderate exhibits of age-toning (mostly spotting, some yellowing) present variously throughout; the only other artifact worth noting is a single exhibit of low-impact staining at/along top right-hand corner [& along rightmost fine-edge] of “back cover” fold (e.g., on the page with Ratch’s poem, “Lenin’s Paintings”; see picture), otherwise clean and tenderly kept. Near Fine. [Item #7317]

Price: $45.00