Ondaatje, Michael

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid

ISBN: 0425029573
New York, NY, USA: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1975. First Edition Thus. Softcover. "Very memorable. Ondaatje has dealt imaginatively with those moments of Billy's life, or those aspects of his legend, that particularly gripped him. His triumph is that he makes them grip us." (Larry McMurtry, back cover review). The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a verse novel by Ceylon-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist & author of The English Patient (one of the most influential novels of the late 20th century, both in literary circles & in popular culture) Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943), first published in 1970. It chronicles & interprets important events in the life of William Bonney (1851-1881, aka Billy the Kid) and his conflict with Sheriff Pat Garrett (1850-1908). The book presents a series of poems not necessarily in chronological order which fictionalize & relate Bonney's more famous exploits after the end of the Lincoln County War in 1881. The narrative includes his relationship with John & Sallie Chisum, his formation of a gang with Tom O'Folliard & Charlie Bowdre, his standoff with Garrett in Stinking Springs, New Mexico, his arrest & escape from Lincoln, New Mexico, his escape & the ensuing murder of James Bell & Robert Olinger, and finally his death at the hands of Garrett at Fort Sumner. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid makes use of free verse vignettes, mostly from Bonney's perspective, to tell the story. The imagery & language is generally dark & compressed, evocative of the suspense & violence that characterizes Bonney's story. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). Trade-Format Softcover Original: First Berkley Windhover Edition per copyright page, first printing though not explicated as such thereon. A most collectible Ondaatje poetry collection in one of its rarest forms with very distinguished provenance. In relatively near-fine-to-fine condition with mild age-toning, scratching & bumping of corners to front, back covers & spine; mild rubbing mostly to fine edges of same; vertical crease near spine of back cover; moderate age-toning & mild rubbing to text block. Interior near-fine-to-fine with moderate age-toning prerdominantly to blank margins & fine edges of page leaves; publishing oddity: pages 35-38 and 51-54 are appx. 1/8" shorter from the top fine edge than the other page leaves. Near Fine-Fine. [Item #8979]

Price: $50.00