Nuttall, Jeff

Poems 1962-69

London, England, UK: Fulcrum Press, 1970. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Jeff Nuttall. "I had a session with Mel Davies and his group in Mel's living room. I read my poems while Mel and the others played. They played continuously, enfuelling one another's ideas as they always do, and I had to read all my poems without break or obtrusive announcement. We taped the session and played it back and I saw that my poems worked better in a chain linked together. So that's how we put them in this book. Nose to tail, they made a narrative that moves through the succession of moods that make up my life during the years I spent writing them- A continuum, like living and music." (Poet's Note, pg. 5) A classic collection of dynamic, evocative, uninhibited poems by Jeff Nuttall (1933-2004), the poet, publisher & Jazz musician who was a legendarily larger-than-life figure in the British 1960s counterculture. For our Third Mind-Burroughsian purposes, Nuttall is most notable to us for his mid-1960s My Own Mag series which he edited, published & contributed to, & which featured works by canonical Beat-&-Beyond authors- most especially William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), the Great Founding Father of the Beat Generation-&-Beyond who is the very Patron-Icon of our enterprise (see our item No. 8207). Hardcover without dust jacket as issued in publisher's (we presume) clear protective jacket, one of 100 copies hand-numbered & signed in black felt-tip ink by Nuttall at colophon (opposite Poet's Note quoted above), this is copy No. 44/100. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), 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, publisher & bookseller). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by WSB, 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 honored to have obtained what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining gems such as this from Unicorn & Public House. Third Mind Books proceeds to reverently curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy which is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. A foundational, exemplary Nuttall collectible in its very rarest contemporary form, greatly enriched by Nuttall's bold, emphatic signature & with the highest, most relevant provenance. In relatively fine-to-very-fine condition with only light rubbing & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of red-colored front, back covers & spine; slight rubbing & occasional spotting to edges of text block (which are light-brown as issued, not age-toned). Interior very fine with only miniscule bumps at corners of a few page leaves, otherwise appearing substantially mint (again, paste-downs, endpapers & page leaves are all light-brown as issued, with no age-toning). Clear protective jacket fine-to-very-fine with light rubbing, faint scratching to surfaces, edges & corners; some curling/creasing at margins/edges of interior flaps (all edges & corners appear completely intact). Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8722]

Price: $75.00