Various (Waldman, Anne (Editor); Warsh, Lewis (Editor); Berrigan, Ted; Carroll, Jim; Elmslie, Kenward; Giorno, John; O'Hara, Frank; Padgett, Ron et al.)

Angel Hair 6 (Spring 1969)

New York, NY: Angel Hair, 1969. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “The only way to be quiet / is to be quick, so I scare / you clumsily, or surprise / you with a stab. A praying / mantis knows time more / intimately than I and is / more casual. Crickets use / time for accompaniment to / innocent fidgeting. A zebra / races counter clockwise. / All this I desire. To / deepen you by my quickness / and delight as if you / were logical and proven, / but still be quiet as if / I were used to you; as if / you would never leave me / and were the inexorable / product of my own time” The sixth number of the poetry journal co-edited, published & with contributions by Anne Waldman (b. 1945), the acclaimed poet-performer of the New York School, Beat Generation-&-Beyond; & her then-husband Lewis Warsh (1944-2020), the important New York School-&-Beyond poet-artist. With contributions by a roster of some of the foremost New York School poets including Ted Berrigan (1934-1983); Jim Carroll (1949-2009); John Giorno (1936-2019); Kenward Elmslie (1929-2022); Frank O’Hara (1926-1966); Ron Padgett (b. 1942) and others. For a complete list of contributors, see the photographs attached to this listing. Large-format journal in stapled wrappers, an exquisitely simple letterpress production, presumed first edition/ first-&-only printing. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), an esteemed friend of ours in the UK who managed the legendary Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s until 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 shortly thereafter met his untimely demise. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is now also closed, and he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed “The Last Hurrah,” all the remaining treasures of Unicorn and Public House, some of which have become the stuff of Beat-&-Beyond myth, and which now comes from our custodial hands and passes to yours. In Good-Very Good condition with moderate-to-enunciated shelf-wear, rubbing, some light bumping, a few instances of slightly more pronounced bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; general horizontal, as well as vertical use-&-storage -based creasing to/at/along fine-edges of same; mild-to-enunciated age-toning, yellowing, fading, & artifacts similar in style or gradation to these present variously throughout; otherwise, generally clean. Good-Near Fine. [Item #8554]

Price: $125.00