Creeley, Robert (Glover, Albert)

The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley 1945-1975 with: Ephemera

Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1982. First Printing. Hardcover. With postcard inscribed and signed by Robert Creeley. Offered here is a special association copy of The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley which was gifted to the seismic American author by his friend and contemporary, Albert Glover (b. 1942) in June 1990. It goes without saying that the work here assembled kicks ass. I mean, it’s got For Love and The Charm — two of Bob’s best books — and, in the mind of Your Devoted VP-of-Operations here at Third Mind Books, the unexpurgated presence of these works in this volume makes The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley worth the price of admission. You could effectively consider everything else printed here as akin to great bonus tracks on a never-ending LP — and if you did that, as long as you read For Love and The Charm, you’d leave the encounter totally enriched. That being the case, let’s jump to our description of the exciting, tipped-in ephemera offered as part of this listing. Between the epigraph and contents pages of The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, we found & have retained a signed & dated, handwritten postcard that was sent by Bob to Al in late June 1990. The postcard, while not formally ‘mailed,’ was pressed between the pages of this volume (at the site to which we earlier referred); and was evidently part of Creeley’s gift (of the volume) to Glover. On the postcard’s recto side, we have one of Allen Ginsberg’s (1926-1997) classic images of Robert Creeley; and on verso is the handwritten portion previously alluded to. Creeley’s signature and accompanying inscription, in medium-bold, black pen ink, reads: “6/26/90 / Al — / Here’s something you / might enjoy. “The Dinner / Guest” was [indiscernible] [indiscernible]. / Bob.” The gifted association copy and accompanying postcard, together attest to decades of considerate and generative literary friendship between the two men — and the influence, on both, of their mutual mentor, Charles Olson (1910-1970). From the collection of Albert Glover (b. 1942), the acclaimed American poet, author, bibliographer, editor & publisher whom we're honored to be acquainted with, & who is the foremost living authority on Charles Olson, the canonical American poet among the most gigantic men-of-letters of the twentieth century—our favorite Maximus Obscurantist. Glover studied with & was anointed by the Maximus Master himself, & has outstandingly served as his bibliographer & editor (see for example our item No. 8126). Trade-format hardcover in unclipped dust-jacket: First Edition, though not explicated as such on copyright page; First Printing, as indicated by number sequence thereon. Book in strong near fine condition with only minute-to-moderate shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; on p. 264 (a section-divider page with no text present) there is a large loss of paper — as if Glover needed a scrap for some momentary flash of inspiration, and made a makeshift Sticky Note of appx. a third of p. 264 (see pictures) in the process. Other than this, the inside is pristine: and the original, handwritten postcard from the volume’s author [Creeley] to its recipient [Glover] ascends to silence or minimize the artifact. Dust-jacket in equally strong fine condition with only correspondent light shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; a few exhibits of mostly mute, low-visibility creasing and bumping present variously at same; otherwise, pristine. Postcard in strong near fine condition with light-to-moderate edge-wear, some bumping, rubbing, minute-to-light creasing, & a few scattered (generally mute) nick-indentations; all of which are present, variously throughout; otherwise, generally clean. Near Fine / Fine. [Item #8597]

Price: $80.00