Various (Mayer, Peter (Editor); Cobbing, Bob; Harwood, Lee; Mottram, Eric; Nuttall, Jeff et al.)

Bob Cobbing & Writers Forum (Ceolfrith Press No. 26, October 1974)

Sunderland, England: Ceolfrith Press, 1974. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “The fact that language doesn’t appear before us in properly ordered sentences in no way denies content or intent in his work. Cobbing is working in the language behind the language where there is an effective expression of what Eric Mottram calls ‘human sound emotions.’ Brion Gysin in the collection The Exterminator (1960) and Jean Dubuffet in some of his paintings have presented texts in an unknown script, fragments of tablets from lost civilizations. But their meaning is not hidden or only for the initiate. The meaning is simply there before us in all its richness, open to us with all its numerous pieces of information. Bob Cobbing, without going into any ‘mysterious lands,’ produces the same effect using the same marks, alphabet, we see and use every day. And so bringing us to the daily mystery, the daily miracle, the daily threat.” (Lee Harwood, pg. 9) This piece was published to correspond with the Bob Cobbing and Writers Forum Retrospective Exhibition held in Sunderland in 1974, and includes essays on Cobbing as a poet and leader of the Writers Forum, as well as examples of Cobbing’s concrete poetry. Cobbing (1920 – 2002) was central to the British Poetry Revival and managed Better Books in London. Jeff Nuttall, best-known to Beat Generation devotees for his self-published underground literary journal, "My Own Mag," featuring many important contributions by Beat Generation Founding Father William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), provides a contribution about Cobbing's paintings. Eric Mottram (1924-1995), a prescient, early contributor to the field of Beat Studies, gives a history of the Writer's Forum, which was a small publisher but also a workshop and writer’s network. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945) who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England for founder 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 William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item nos. 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. Wide-format softcover original in stapled wrappers. First Edition, presumed first-&-only printing. In Fine condition with light smudging and scratching to front, back covers & stapled spine; light creasing and some small bumps to edges & corners of same; staples in process of rusting with minimal interior bleeding; moderate spotting to textblock. Interior Fine with light creasing to corners of some leaves and light age-toning throughout. Fine. [Item #8354]

Price: $75.00