Silver, Sam; Crowe, Thomas Rain

Original Photograph: Thomas Rain Crowe at First San Francisco Poetry Festival (1976)

San Francisco, CA: Sam Silver, 1976. Original Photograph. Signed at verso by photographer Sam Silver. “…Lawrence [Ferlinghetti] was sort of the figurehead for the festival by being its “editor” during the process of creating a list of headliners. I was the nuts-&-bolts man. The workhorse doing the daily business of setting things in motion, making schedules, contacting poets, bringing necessary assistants onboard, etc. I was also the “businessman” of the group…along with John Ming Lee…Lawrence felt that San Francisco needed a major festival to put it on the international map and that the timing was right, as we had more or less proven from the overflow attendance to all our previous events…Was it a success? Most definitely…The Veterans’ Auditorium held upward of 3,000 people. On the first night we filled the auditorium to capacity. On the next night, we not only filled it to capacity but had people standing in the isles and in the foyer and up on the stage, breaking the fire code with staff at the venue calling the backstage phone, threatening to call the marshals and close down the event.” (from The Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, p. 72). An original photographic print from the First Annual San Francisco Poetry Festival of the man himself, Thomas Dawson (Rain Crowe) (b. 1949), 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 #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. Original photographic print (approx 10” x 8” including margins) on single sheet. A written copyright with signature by photographer Sam Silver is located at verso near top left-hand corner stating in pink felt-tip ink: “© Sam Silver | P.O. Box 2001 | Berkeley, Calif | 94702.” Just next to copyright is written: “Thomas Dawson (Crowe) | S.F. International Poetry Fest. | 1976.” Along bottom of verso is affixed by tape more event information: “San Francisco | International | Poetry Festival | Neeli Cherkovski: Coordinator | Thomas Dawson: Director | San Francisco Public Library | Civic Center | San Francisco, California 94102 | (415) 362-3112.” An unidentifiable signature mark is also on the bottom right-hand side of verso. A caption, typed on a sticker and affixed to the bottom left-hand corner of recto, states “Thomas Rain Crowe | S. F. Poetry Festival, 1976". Silver was one among several photographer-friends that Crowe kept in his Mim-Rev rolodex that he employed or invited to capture the Renaissance action. In fine condition with very minor wear to fine edges, slight smudging and scratching to recto and verso, and light staining at verso. Fine. [Item #7937]

Price: $100.00