Cassady, Neal; Ginsberg, Allen; Cupidi, Richard

As Ever: The Collected Correspondence of Allen Ginsberg & Neal Cassady

ISBN: 0916870081
Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts Book Company, 1977. First Softcover Edition. Softcover. Inscribed, dated, placed & signed by Allen Ginsberg to Richard Cupidi. "The astonishing, unexpurgated, revelatory heart-talk between two of the Founding Fathers of Post-Modern American Literature. Absolutely the most intimate documentation of the histories of Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and others closely associated with the authors. Filled with original, unpublished poems, the range of Allen Ginsberg's correspondence is comparable only to Ezra Pound's. Ginsberg and Cassady were loyal correspondents, and this invaluable record of their mutual love and devotion spans almost a quarter century- and most of the world: Denver, New York, San Francisco, Central & South America, Alaska, India, Dakar, "on the road to Texas in (an) old Ford in the rain in Oklahoma"- from the mid-forties until Neal's death in Mexico in 1968." (from back cover) The now classic compilation of correspondence between Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) & Neal Cassady (1926-1968), Founding Father & Primary Muse, respectively, of the Beat Generation-&-Beyond. Edited & with an introduction by pioneering Beat biographer & author Barry Gifford; & with a foreword by Carolyn Cassady, Neal's long-suffering widow who was left to raise their children & deal with practicalities while Neal, Allen, Jack & Co. cavorted "On the Road." Large-format softcover, first softcover edition, first printing with all points in Morgan, A36(a2), pgs. 49-50. At title page, Ginsberg has hand-written & signed in bold black ink: "For/ Richard Cupidi/ November 16, 1979/ Brighton/ (signed) Allen Ginsberg." Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), is our esteemed mate in the UK who was the manager of the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England founded by Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate poet, bookseller & publisher). 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 has also now closed, & he still resides there. We are privileged to have acquired what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House such as this gem. Third Mind Books proceeds to curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy which is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. An essential Ginsberg-Cassady Beat Generation collectible in its increasingly scarce, penultimately rarest contemporary form; inestimably enriched by Ginsberg's inscription, date close to publication & signature to Cupidi, with most-distinguished, relevant association & provenance. In relatively near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, mostly faint scratching, light age-toning & moderate spotting to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; mild rubbing, age-toning, spotting & light spot-staining to edges of text block esp. lower edge. Interior fine with only a touch of age-toning to blank inner covers & page leaves, the latter chiefly at blank thin margins/edges; quaint Public House-era handwritten price in British Pounds crossed-out & lowered in pencil at upper right margin of recto first leaf (shorter title page); tiny bumps & small, mostly faint creases at corners & occasionally edges of some leaves. Near Fine. [Item #8622]

Price: $200.00 save 15% $170.00