Mrabet, Mohammed (Bowles, Paul)

M'Hashish

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1969. First Edition. Softcover. “’Ah, said Hassan, I don’t believe in the world. There’s another world where life is different.’ These are stories of that world. The word m’hashish (equivalent in Moghrebi of ‘behashished’ or ‘full of hashish’) is used not only in a literal sense, but also figuratively, to describe a person whose behavior seems irrational or unexpected. The tales here deal with some of the possible results, desirable and questionable, of being in that state.” (From back cover) This collection of stories is the second collaboration between Mohammed Mrabet (b. 1936), the artist & storyteller of the Ait Ouriaghel tribe in the Rif region of Morocco, and Paul Bowles (1910-1999), the canonical Beat-&-Beyond American expatriate author & composer who was Mrabet's close friend and who translated Mrabet’s stories from the Moghrebi language into English from audio tapes. In his biography, "Look and Move On," translated by Bowles, Mrabet recounted how it was that he came to tell stories: "I began to go see [Bowles] several times a week, and each time I spent two hours or so recording stories. Finally I had a good collection of them. Some were tales I had heard in the cafes, some were dreams, some were inventions I made as I was recording, and some were about things that had actually happened to me." (p.380). Trade-format softcover original, First Edition, first printing, with all points in Cook, No. 73, pgs. 79-80. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed friend in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published some of the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (See for example item No. 8217). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. Beginning with today's assortment of New Arrivals exclusively dedicated to this collection, Third Mind Books will reverently curate & present incrementally the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy that is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. In Fine condition with some scratching, smudging, and staining to front, back covers & spine; mild bumping and creasing to edges & corners of same; moderate staining to textblock. Interior fine with mild staining to some leaves and age-toning throughout. Fine. [Item #8208]

Price: $65.00