Various (Ferlinghetti, Lawrence (Editor); Brautigan, Richard; Burroughs, William S.; Ginsberg, Allen; Hollo, Anselm; Joans, Ted; Kerouac, Jack; McClure, Michael; Norse, Harold; Sanders, Edward; Snyder, Gary et al.)

City Lights Journal No. 1 (1963)

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1963. First Edition. Softcover. Signed by Allen Ginsberg for Richard Cupidi. The first number of the landmark first series of literary journals edited & with contribution by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), published by his iconic City Lights Books imprint. As noted on back cover, this now-historic issue is dedicated to then-recently deceased great American poets E.E. Cummings & William Carlos Williams, with a theretofore unpublished Cummings poem ("christ but they're few") thereon. Featuring contributions of poetry & prose by Richard Brautigan (excerpts from his novel Trout Fishing in America), William S. Burroughs ("I Am Dying, Meester?" from The Yage Letters first published later in the year of this issue by CLB), Ferlinghetti (the prose-poem-essay "The Road to Topolobampo"), Allen Ginsberg (excerpts & images from what would later be published as Indian Journals), Ted Joans (the poem "Afrique Accidentale"), Jack Kerouac (letter excerpt "Among the Iroquois"), Michael McClure (the short essay "Notes on Miniature Drama"), Harold Norse ("The Death of 9, Rue Git-Le Coeur (i.e. The Beat Hotel in Paris)"), Ed Sanders (excerpt of "Poem From Jail"), Gary Snyder (journal excerpt "Journey to Rishikesh & Hardwar" with images), Williams (the poem "The Men") & many others—a true who's-who of the Beat Generation, before & beyond. One of an unknown number of copies printed during June 1963, without printing notice or apparently any further printings (Cook, No. 39, pgs. 42-43). A key Beat rarity & an essential literary collectible. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed friend 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. This copy is additionally enhanced by the signature & inscription to Cupidi by Allen Ginsberg on the title page, reading simply: "(signed) Allen Ginsberg / for Richard Cupidi." Trade-format softcover original: first edition, first printing, as per usual custom of literary journals. In relatively good-to-near-fine condition with mild-to-moderate age toning to front, back covers & spine; very mild spotting, mild rubbing/scratching to same; mild-to-moderate bumping to the fine edges and corners of same. Interior is clean with minimal age-toning to the page edges. Good-Near Fine. [Item #8778]

Price: $125.00 save 15% $106.25