Various (Stevenson, Lionel (Editor); Auden, W.H.; Bukowski, Charles; Conquest, Robert; Dickey, James; Jarrell, Randall; Nemerov, Howard; Sexton, Anne et al.)

Best Poems of 1964: Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards 1965

Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Books, 1965. First Softcover (Library) Edition. Softcover. "This volume presents the Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards annual selections and awards for poems originally published in magazines in 1964. This is the seventeenth annual volume of a continuous series that started with an experiment of selecting original poems published in magazines of the English-speaking world in 1948. borestone Mountain Poetry Awards, a nonprofit literary organization, was founded in 1947 to stimulate an interest in poetry by compiling an anthology of original poetry of the year which would otherwise be lost in the back numbers of magazines." ("Announcement of Awards and Acknowledgements," first paragraph, recto third leaf) Among the award-winning poems in this number of the prestigious series in which Lionel Stevenson (1902-1973, the esteemed author & academician) was Chairman-editor, includes the classic earlier poem "Practice" by Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), the great American cult favorite poet-denizen of the dive bar & the racetrack. (pgs. 21-24, Debritto, C68, pg. 450). "Practice" had appeared in the Wormwood Review Issue 15, Vol. 4 No. 3 the previous year (Debritto, B161, pg. 147). Buk is in Prestigious Company here, with contributions by W.H. Auden, Robert Conquest, James Dickey, Randall Jarrell, Howard Nemerov, Anne Sexton & many other canonical award-winners. Trade-format softcover, ex-library edition presumed to be from first softcover edition, first printing, complete with errata slip affixed to blank area of recto fourth leaf. A scarce & most-significant collectible anthology in its penultimately rarest contemporary form (albeit much worked-over by a library per condition below & therefore priced accordingly), of especial interest to the most devoted Bukowski collector-completist. While we do not possess, as of this writing, the above-referred issue of the Wormwood Review in which this first appeared, we do have many issues among our Wormwood offerings with Buk contributions: See item No.s 5277, 6911, 7142, 7144, 7146, 7148, 7150, 7152, 7154, 7156, 7158, 7160, 7164, 7170, 7172, 7174. In relatively good condition considering its heavy alteration while it circulated at the Porter Library at Kansas State College of Pittsburg: Mild rubbing, scratching to extra-laminated front, back covers & spine; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; pronounced crease across middle length of spine; small-medium area with loss of surface paper across lower section of same; two stickers with marked-out barcode & library information affixed near left edge of front cover; one such sticker affixed at lower right edge of back cover; a touch of age-toning & library stamps at edges of text block. Interior (again relatively) good with library bookplate affixed to blank inner front cover; "Withdrawn" red stamp at recto first leaf/ shorter title page; two pieces of tape neatly affixed across edge & onto inner front cover & recto first leaf; library chart affixed to blank verso final leaf; library pouch affixed to blank inner front cover; small sticker removed from glue above pouch loosely retained; two pieces of tape similar to above at edge & onto verso final leaf & inner back cover; minor creasing/crinkling where errata slip noted above affixed & at blank verso; one thin mark at lower margin of the latter; tiny bumps & small, faint creases at corners of some page leaves. Good. [Item #8641]

Price: $40.00