Various (Packard, William (Editor); Ammons, A.R.; Bukowski, Charles; Ginsberg, Louis et al.)

The New York Quarterly No. 19 (Autumn 1977)

New York, NY: The New York Quarterly Poetry Review Foundation, Inc., 1977. First Printing. Softcover. “AS THIS ISSUE No. 19 GOES TO PRESS, WE SEEM TO BE COMING TO THE END OF A LONG, HARD, OFTEN AGONISING [sic] PROCESS OF SURVIVAL. AT ITS WORST, OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, WE HAVE BEEN DELAYED IN PUBLICATION SOMETIMES UPWARDS OF 18 MONTHS BETWEEN ISSUES OF NYQ. AND WHILE OUR INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIBERS HAVE REMAINED PATIENT AND LOYAL AND UNDERSTANDING OF OUR SITUATION, RISING PRODUCTION COSTS AND SET-BACKS IN FUNDING AND DISTRIBUTION HAVE MADE OUR EFFORTS TO GET BACK ON SCHEDULE INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT. But this survival process does now seem to be coming to an end, and there is reason to believe that NYQ will be on a regular schedule once again in 1978. […] NYQ continues on like some oddball Egyptian phoenix bird which lies down on a rickety pyre and makes an utter ash of itself, only to rise incarnate again in angry flames of renewal. We really don't know what to make of the whole thing, although our experience of the last few years has raised a few very serious questions about the real nature of funding arts projects in this country. And perhaps this is an appropriate time for us to try to set down some of these questions, for others to consider and reflect on” (William Packard, p. 3-4). This vintage number of the venerable high-quality poetry journal founded & then-edited by the legendary poet-polymath William Packard (1933-2002) documents the switch from seasonal basis to periodical form. It begins with a long, admittedly somewhat hilarious (though perfectly transparent) depiction of then-ongoing financial, as well as editorial struggles going on at the magazine around this time. The benefit of this (insofar as honest reportage is concerned) is that Your Devoted VP-of-Operations here at Third Mind Books has yet to see a more honest representation of the hilarious in-crowd cattiness and accompanying dramatizations of what life at a New York literary journal was like in the mid-to-late 1970s. It continues with work by Charles Bukowski (1920-2994; “Who the Hell is Tom Jones?”; Debritto, B1067, pg. 296); the great A.R. Ammons (1926-2001; “Having to Do With Birth”); Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s (1926-1997) father, Louis Ginsberg (1895-1976; “Remarks from My Desk”); and several dozen others. For a full listing of contributors and contents page, consult the photos attached to this listing. In closing: for those interested in more than just the work within these magazines — those equally interested in the milieu that birthed them, put one way, and the manner[s] in which they Struggled heroically onward — then this issue (No. 19) of Packard’s The New York Quarterly is for you. Trade-format softcover: the first and only printing (of Issue No. 19) of Packard’s NYQ. In relatively Good to Near-Fine condition with moderate rubbing, scratching & age toning of front, back covers & spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps, small creases at edges & corners of same; a small library stamp at front cover; moderate rubbing, age toning & spotting to edges of same; minor staining to lower edges of text block. Interior very fine with only small-to-tiny bumps, creases to corners of some page leaves. Good-Near Fine. [Item #7483]

Price: $50.00