De Loach, Allen

From Maine

Buffalo, NY: University Press (S.U.N.Y. at Buffalo), 1970. Limited First Edition. Inscribed, signed, placed & dated by Allen De Loach. "bits and pieces come forth / recognized, to be known attended / they fill, in their own way, / this short space of time" (first stanzas/sentences, unpaginated). Number three in the "Beau Fleuve Series" ("Beautiful River Series" for non-francophiles) produced by Allen De Loach (1939-2002), an author, publisher & editor who was very active in the Beat Generation-morphing-into-Hippie counterculture as an important participant in the 1960s Mimeograph Revolution- Lower East Side NYC literary scene- including his long-running journal Intrepid which published major cut-up writings by Beat Generation Founding Father William S. Burroughs (1914-1997). Subtitled "a letter to Charles Olson, & Others," this is an epistolary prose-poem very highly influenced in its structure & content by Charles Olson (1910-1970), our favorite Black Mountain School-&-Beyond Maximus Obscurantist of Letters. See Item No.s 1997, 5098, 5443, & 6913 for other issues in this series. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK 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 WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example 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. Chapbook in Stapled Wrappers: limited first edition, first printing, one of an edition of 1000 copies per colophon/copyright page. Although this copy is not among "...the first one hundred of which / are signed and numbered by the / author" per colophon, De Loach has hand-written, signed, placed and dated in elegant cursive bold black ink at title page: "for Paul & family - | Love & [indiscernable] - | (signed) Allen De Loach | London visit | July 71." A most intriguing De Loach collectible, in its rarest contemporary limited trade form, with very distinguished provenance & greatly enriched by the author's warm inscription to a kindred friend and his family, signature, placement & date (See also Item No. 6909). In relatively very fine condition with only a touch of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of front, back covers & stapled spine; rusting of staples with minimal interior bleeding. Interior very fine with a few tiny bumps to corners of some page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #8404]

Price: $45.00