Duncan, Robert

The First Decade: Selected Poems 1940-1950

London, England, UK: Fulcrum Press, 1969. First Trade Edition. Hardcover. "In making this selection from the first decade of my work I have sought not only to include certain poems which have been particularly admired by those who admire my poetry at all, but, more important, to provide those texts which at this time I see as essential for a serious reading of evolving themes and forms; and, back of those formal preoccupations I have had as an artist, I have had in mind too in my choice presenting the typology of a life-work emerging. I sought and still seek a consonance with what is happening, a co-operation with experience itself, with the peculiar experience that arises in the process of a poem between the universe immediate to the evocation of language and the actual universe immediate in the body of the man who now, in writing, inspired, begins to speak as a poet. My intent here centers upon the process of poetry, the making or creation of a third world, and not upon audience or the possibilities of merit according to whatever consensus of literary taste or sensibility." (from front flap) A collection of early poems by Robert Duncan (1919-1988), the great American poet of the Black Mountain- San Francisco Renaissance-&-Beyond. Duncan's 1944 essay, "The Homosexual in Society," was an early landmark of LGBT advocacy & openness. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first trade edition, one of 3000 copies published during February 1969 (copyrighted 1968) per & with all points in Bertholf, A30(a), pgs. 95-96. 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 legendary American-expatriate poet, publisher & bookseller). 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 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 which is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining gems of Unicorn & Public House such as this. Third Mind Books is proceeding to reverently curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy that is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. A foundational Duncan collectible in its rarest contemporary trade form, with most-distinguished provenance. See our many other Robert Duncan rarities. Book in relatively quite fine-to-very-fine condition with only a touch of rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; light rubbing, mild age-toning & spotting to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only a hint of age-toning to page leaves, chiefly at blank margins/edges. Dust jacket fine with mild rubbing, faint scratching & a bit of age-toning to front, back covers, spine & flaps; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases & occasional very short, closed tears at edges & corners of same esp. spine-edges, corners. Fine-Very Fine / Fine. [Item #8461]

Price: $80.00 save 15% $68.00