Dubose, George (Ginsberg, Allen)

Original Promotional Photograph of Allen Ginsberg

n/p: Great Jones, n/d. First Edition. “Strange now to think of you, gone without corsets & eyes, while I walk on / the sunny pavement of Greenwich Village. / downtown Manhattan, clear winter noon, and I’ve been up all night, talking, / talking, reading the Kaddish aloud, listening to Ray Charles blues shout / blind on the phonograph / the rhythm the rhythm–and your memory in my head three years after– / And read Adonais’ last triumphant stanzas aloud–wept, realizing how we / suffer– / And how Death is that remedy all singers dream of, sing, remember, / prophesy as in the Hebrew Anthem, or the Buddhist Book of Answers– / and my own imagination of a withered leaf–at dawn– / Dreaming back thru life, Your time–and mine accelerating toward / Apocalypse,...”--Allen Ginsberg, Kaddish, first several stanzas. Offered today is a truly unique, if a little mysterious, item; Promotional Photo of Elderly Allen Ginsberg, taken by Gerorge DuBose (b. 1951), and obviously of Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), the Beat Generation poet-titan. DuBose is a Moroccan-born American photographer who has, since the 1970’s, been best known for his work with Andy Warhol’s (1928–1987) “Interview” magazine, photographing the B52s, the Ramones (for their cover of Subterranean Jungle, 1983), Biz Markie, and of course relevant to today’s curation, Allen Ginsberg. Little is known about what this photo was meant to be promotional material for or when exactly this photo was taken/set for publication. While these details have, unfortunately, been lost to time what we do know is that Ginsberg seems to be fairly elderly, so we can assume at least the the photo was taken roughly in the late 80s-early 90s, It was published by Great Jones (of which little is also known), was set to be distributed by The Island Trading Co., and that this photo seemingly saw very little utilization insofar as its promotional usage is concerned, and is therefore a very rare and unique piece of Ginsberg ephemera/memorabilia. From the collection of Thomas Rain Crowe, scholar, writer, and member of the Baby Beat Generation. 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 #3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (see item #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. We have found and retained on the back of this photo a blue sticky note that says: “Promotional photo– / ok to use / w/photographer’s credit.” 8.5x10 photograph. First & presumably only printing. In very fine condition with only the slightest wear to fine edges, and slight wear/tear at back seemingly from a previous adhesive having been removed, and some pen/ink scribblings on what seems to be an old adhesive strip on back near top otherwise substantially mint! Very Fine. [Item #7538]

Price: $100.00 save 15% $85.00