Various (Ortleb, Charles L. (Editor); Cheever, John; Ginsberg, Allen; Hofstra, John; Nin, Anais; Rorem, Ned; Todd, Alexander et al.)

Christopher Street Vol. 1 No. 11 (May 1977)

New York, NY: Christopher Street, 1977. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. (Morgan C751, p. 262). A vintage issue (May 1977) of Christopher Street, the gay-oriented American magazine founded by Charles Ortleb (b. 1950) in New York. As a magazine, Christopher Street was defined by two things: first, a no-holds-barred, untrammeled speech-based approach to issues facing the gay community: nothing was off limits; no take too inane to be considered within the walls of its pages. Second, its ruthless, unflagging satire of anti-gay criticism & anti-gay critics, which evinced a political jubilance it is hard to imagine in our own fractured age-&-time. Most important to our purposes, here is the presence of works by Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), the most significant Gay American poet since the great Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Allen’s contributions, here are excerpts from his then-forthcoming Journals: Early Fifties Early Sixties, which Grove Atlantic saw published later that year. From the book, we have [1] the short poem which begins, “I want to be wanted”; [2] Allen’s “Politics on Opium”; [3] & the poem “Subliminal,” from Oct. 1960. For a full list of contents & contributors, view photo of the contents page attached to this listing. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949). 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. In very fine condition with only minute-to-mild shelf-wear, sunning, & some light bumping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; otherwise, pristine. Very Fine. [Item #7582]

Price: $65.00 save 15% $55.25