Various (Waldman, Anne (Editor); Warsh, Lewis (Editor); Berkson, Bill; Berrigan, Ted; Brainard, Joe; Clark, Tom; Giorno, John; Padgett, Ron; Saroyam, Aram et al.)

Angel Hair 5 (Spring 1968)

New York, NY: Angel Hair, 1968. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “The ground is white with snow. / It’s morning, of New Year’s Eve, 1968, & clean / City air is alive with snow, it’s quiet / Driving. I am 33. Good wishes, brothers, everywhere / & Don’t You Tread On Me” (“Resolution,” by the great Ted Berrigan [1934-1983]). The fifth 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 John Ashbery (1927-2017), Ted Berrigan (1934-1983), Joe Brainard (1942-1994), John Giorno (1936-2019), Ron Padgett (b. 1942), James Schuyler (1923-1991) and several 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 Fair-Good condition with moderate-to-enunciated shelf-wear, some light bumping, a few instances of slightly more pronounced bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge (esp. at/along rightmost fine-edge of front cover); general horizontal, as well as vertical use-&-storage -based creasing to/at/along fine-edges of same, particularly along right & topmost fine-edges of front cover, with slightly less enunciated, correspondent exhibits of same at back cover along leftmost & bottommost fine-edges; some rubbing, generally mild age-toning, & related exhibits of same (staining, foxing, crinkling, etc.) present variously throughout, including a few sections of interior in mild apportionments; otherwise, generally clean. Fair-Good. [Item #8556]

Price: $55.00