Ginsberg, Allen

Ginsberg's Thing

London, England: Translatlantic Records Limited, 1969. First U.K. Edition. Vinyl LP Record in Sleeve. (Morgan F25) A 33 1/3 RPM recording of Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) reading at the 1967 “Festival of Two Worlds” in Spoleto, Italy. Spoleto (and the “Two Worlds” festival, generally) is best known to Beat readers as the site of a legendary ‘changing of the guard’ — (the avant-garde, that is) — moment that took place in July 1965 in the life of the Beat Generation. There, at the 1965 edition of the “Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds,” a delegation of writers informally representing the New American Poetry broke bread with noted (if notorious) Modernist scene-maker, Ezra Pound (1885-1972) & the legendary Caresse Crosby (1892-1970) of Black Sun Press fame. Fast-forward two years later, and Allen Ginsberg — who was barred from the 1965 Festival by its director, Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) on account of a “scandal” (involving both Ginsberg and Gregory Corso [1930-2001]) in which Allen disrobed, publicly — is invited back to Spoleto to read. The story gets even more interesting & layered when considering the following: Menotti had tasked the great New York School poet, Frank O’Hara (1926-1966) with selecting the American poets to be featured at the Festival in 1965; and O’Hara predictably included Ginsberg in that list. Two years later, however, Frank O’Hara was dead: which makes Allen’s triumphant, uncensored return to the “Festival of Two Worlds” at Spoleto in 1967 quite poignant; memorial, even. It's especially surprising, then that Allen didn’t read any of Frank’s poems during his set at Spoleto ‘67, but did read translations of the Italian Modernist poet, Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970). Ungaretti, who was variously aligned with Italian Futurism, Symbolism, and a particular literary offshoot of symbolism, called “Hermeticism,” was interested in a series of French poets that Allen was similarly fascinated by (including Stéphane Mallarmé [1842-1898]; & Paul Valéry [1871-1945], among several others). It's for this reason, Your Devoted VP-of-Operations here at Third Mind Books believes, that Allen opted for the Ungaretti translations as opposed to the work of his dearly departed friend — despite the fact that O’Hara is technically the person to credit with linking the Beats with Spoleto in the first place (which resulted, again, in that famed ‘changing-of-the [Avant-] Garde’ moment at Spoleto in July of ’65). These points of curiosity & intrigue complement the actual quality of the reading — which features a strident Ginsberg in fine form. These factors, in combination make Ginsberg’s Thing a quality Beat collectible. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate 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 many outstanding productions by WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item no.s 8217, 8366). 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. Vinyl LP Record in Sleeve: First British Edition, as suggested by matrix numbers (“TRA 192 A1; TRA 192 B1”) in the album’s dead wax. That said, only the American release of this record is accounted for in Bill Morgan’s trusty The Works of Allen Ginsberg, 1941-1994: A Descriptive Bibliography. Considering the fact of its absence in Morgan — (as well as a similarly curious absence on the popular record collecting site, Discogs) — we submit that the British edition of Ginsberg’s Thing is presumably far rarer than the others. With respect to the aforementioned “others,” Discogs helpfully cites the American & Canadian editions, respectively, while providing an incorrect release year (of “1970”) for the American edition. Morgan, in contrast cites 1969 as the year of the American release (along with the following matrix numbers for Side[s] 1 & 2 of the record: [W4RS-2033-2C; W4RS-2034-2]) but lists nothing else. Therefore, the bibliographical citation provided at the top of this curation (Morgan F25, p. 360) is only partially correct: for a revised edition would have the American release of 1969 as “F25a, p. 360”; the British release “F25b, p. 360”; & so on. Such are the joys & curiosities of collecting! LP in Fine-Very Fine condition (or a strong “NM,” per the grading system that’s typically applied to records) with [at most] a minute-to-modest apportionment of nicks & smudges to varying locales at recto & verso sides [or the “A” & “B” sides, respectively]; shiny & generally clean, otherwise. LP Cover/Jacket in strong Fair-Good condition with minute-to-enunciated shelf-wear; age-toning; ring-wear; some light bumping, related bump-creasing, and a suite of mild-to-enunciated chipping present at select locales along front, back covers & spine-edge; rectangular price sticker (with original price rubbed out or scratched off) at/near top right-hand corner of front cover; & light-to-moderate rubbing variously present throughout; otherwise, clean. Clear, protective sleeve also present and in relatively fine condition. Fine-Very Fine / Fair-Good. [Item #8343]

Price: $150.00