Various (Greene, Jonathan (Editor); Marcus, Bruce (Editor); Blackburn, Paul; de Lille, Alain; Ferrante, Joan et al.)

Gnomon No. 1 (Fall 1965)

New York, NY, USA: Gnomon Press, 1965. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "I turn laughter to tears, joy to mourning | applause to lament, delight to grief, | when I see that Nature's laws lie silent, | when men are destroyed, wrecked by the monster of Venus, | when Venus, fighting against Venus, makes men of women, | and with her magic arts, unmans men." (Alain de Lille, translanted by Joan Ferrante, de Plantou Naturae, pg. 3) Gnomon, No. 1 (Fall 1965) is the debut issue of a short-lived New York little magazine edited by American poets Jonathan Greene (b. 1943) and Bruce Marcus, published under the Gnomon Press imprint. Only two issues ever appeared: this one and No. 2 (Spring 1967), after which Marcus had departed and Greene turned the imprint entirely to book publishing. Greene later moved Gnomon Press to Kentucky, where it ran for decades. This first issue was conceived as "the Mediaeval issue," an unusual angle for a mid-'60s small press, and the thing that makes it interesting. Issue One features: Black Mountain School poet Paul Blackburn's (1926-1971) translations of the troubadour Marcabru (pgs. 12-22); American scholar of medieval literature Joan Ferrante's (b. 1936) translation of French theologian & poet Alain de Lille's Complaint of Nature (pgs. 3-5); Marcus on Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) and his falconry treatise (pgs. 6-11), a 13th-century Latin treatise on ornithology and falconry, that combined practical hunting instruction with detailed biological observations & Greene's poems Once a Kingdom Again (pgs. 27-36) & The World is a Mirror, Where-by We See the Look of the Lady (pg. 46; incorrectly attributed to pg. 40 at index page). Ultimately Gnomon, No. 1 (Fall 1965) is an odd and appealing artifact of mid-'60s New American Poetry in a medieval-subject magazine staffed partly by Black Mountain/New York poetry-world people. 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). Chapbook in Stapled Wrappers: First Edition, presumed first-&-only printing. A most collectible short-run little-magazine in its rarest contemporary form with relevant association & distinguished provenance. In relatively fine condition with mild-moderate age-toning & spot-staining mostly to fine edges of front, back covers & spine; minor rusting of staples; moderate age-toning & mild rubbing to text block. Interior fine with mild-verging-on-moderate age-toning mostly to blank margins & fine edges of page leaves; mild bumping to corners of same. Fine. [Item #9318]

Price: $50.00 save 10% $45.00