Spicer, Jack; Blaser, Robin

After Lorca

London, England: Aloes Books London, 1969. First UK Edition. Stapled Wrappers. A collection of poems by Jack Spicer (1925-1965), the great American poet most closely affiliated with environmental poetics and the San Francisco Renaissance. After Lorca, the poet’s first book, is in many ways a tribute to a towering influence on Spicer and many in his field, the famed Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), who lived a similarly short life and is best known (among Beats/SFR poets) for his innovative, experimental long poem, The Poet in New York, a proto-Surrealist work long considered a classic of international Futurism. Spicer draws upon this influence in his heroic After Lorca, a work that was hugely influential for poets of the Mimeograph Revolution — hence its republication by the great English Mimeograph revolutionary & friend of Third Mind Books, Jim Pennington, through his brave-&-brilliant Aloes Books imprint. The work also features an introduction by Robin Blaser (1925-2009), Spicer's fellow San Francisco Renaissance poet and another widely-acknowledged titan of Mid-Century American verse. A canonical text of Mid-Century American poetic expression that one can’t afford to miss. 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, bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Nuttall 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 is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been privileged to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining gems of Unicorn & Public House, including this. 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. Large-format mimeographed softcover in stapled wrappers: First UK Edition, though not explicated as such; First Printing, with no reference to other printings anywhere in the volume. In strong Near Fine condition with only mild-to-moderate shelf-wear, some light bumping & select, low-visibility exhibits of bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; minute-to-moderate rubbing & age-toning to same; some spotting, foxing, & artifacts related or similar to these present variously, throughout; & some rusting, bleeding to staples at interior & exterior; otherwise, generally clean with interior unmarked. Near Fine. [Item #9228]

Price: $50.00 save 10% $45.00