Various (Berg, Peter (Editor); Girodias, Maurice; Snyder, Gary; Zwerin, Michael et al.)

Raise the Stakes!: The Planet Drum Review Vol. 1 No. 1 (Fall 1979)

San Francisco, CA: Planet Drum Foundation, 1979. First Edition. Loose Folded Sheets. This vintage number (Volume 1, Number 1) of the newspaper-format cultural-environmental journal published by the Planet Drum Foundation features, among other things two extremely unique appearances by figures relating to the Beat Generation. The first is to be expected, in some sense: as it relates to everything that we as Beat scholars know about Gary Snyder (b. 1930), its legendary author, whose association with environmentalist movements has distinguished him from the other giants of the Beat Generation. What Snyder offers in his contribution, a “Letter,” is more of a note (i.e., around the length of a small paragraph) and begins with the following excerpt: “I gave a talk to the annual meeting of the Friends of the Earth where I was asked to be on the Board of Directors. I accepted; and then spoke for twenty minutes on the necessity of centralist conservationists recognizing the need for de-centralist organizations, networks, and people; making the point that environmental legislation from the top down, as useful as it is sometimes, will never work unless there are real live people who live in a place who give a sense to the implementation of that legislation” (p. 6). Far more unexpected is the contribution from Maurice Girodias (1919-1990), famed publisher of The Olympia Press known best to all Burroughsians as the original publisher of William S. Burroughs' (1914-1997) epoch-shaking masterwork, The Naked Lunch. Also in this issue are an article titled “Northwest Nation” by Doug Aberly; a piece (unrelated to the band, DEVO) by the American jazz musician, Michael Zwerin (1930-2010) titled “Devolutionary Notes”; a poem (from which the magazines draws its title) by Peter Berg (1934-2011), a major Bioregionalist who, during the 1960s, was also part of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Diggers. Bioregionalism, for those that don’t know, can be defined as follows: it is “a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called bioregions (similar to ecoregions). Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics. Bioregionalism stresses that the determination of a bioregion is also a cultural phenomenon, and emphasizes local populations, knowledge, and solutions” (excerpted from a 1996 essay by one Don Alexander). These features and more populate the first issue of Raise the Stakes! — a major organ of late ‘70s environmentalism & a core organ of the Bioregionalist movement. 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. Newspaper-format journal in loose sheets folded once each horizontally & vertically, presumed first-&-only printing. A wonderful Crowe archive relic with multiple significances, in its singularly rarest contemporary form. See our other RTS issues (item No.s 7782, 7784, 7786, 7788). In near fine condition with mild rubbing, age-toning, faint scratching & occasional spotting to surfaces esp. covers (we note that the paper used here is of a quality superior to regular newspaper stock); slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases & chips at edges & corners (beyond sawtooth irregularities at side edges as issued); occasional short, closed tears & tiny holes (the latter likely as issued); otherwise, clean. Near Fine. [Item #7790]

Price: $30.00