Various (Berge, Carol; Jones, LeRoi; Moraff, Barbara; Owens, Rochelle; Wakoski, Diane

Four Young Lady Poets

New York, NY, USA: Totem Press/ Corinth Books, 1962. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. "Traveling for days to reach you,/ my mind- a room full of telephones ringing/ and no one to answer them; hundreds of phones ringing/ in an empty room-/ I cannot stop to relax. At night I am traveling,/ transferring from one train to another. During the day/ I am walking from one end of the train/ to the other; in order to be nearer the right end/ of the station when I must transfer/ to another train-/ always at a different end- the coming and going." (Diane Wakoski, "Journey," first stanza, unpaginated) A compilation of works by then-young female poets of the Beat Generation & Beat-adjacent schools. With sections on Carol Berge (1928-2006, a renowned Beat-New York School poet & colleague of the Greats, see our item No.s 6264 et al.); Barbara Moraff (1939-2024, whom Jack Kerouac dubbed "The Baby of the Beat Generation" when she first met him at age 18, see our item No. 4170); Rochelle Owens (b. 1936, the poet & playwright well-regarded by the international avant-garde) & the above-quoted Diane Wakoski (b. 1937, the acclaimed & prolific Beat-Deep Image-New American poet, see our vast offerings). With an introductory "Note on the Authors" (& presumably edited) by LeRoi Jones (1934-2014, pre-Amiri Baraka). Chapbook in stapled wrappers, first edition, presumed first printing with no reference to further printings at copyright page or elsewhere. From the collection of Robin Eichele (b. 1941), an esteemed American poet who co-founded the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the legendary John Sinclair (1941-2024) during 1964, & is our good nearby friend. Eichele has hand-written his ownership signature in bold black ink at blank upper right margin of recto first leaf/ title page; & has hand-written in cerulean blue ink marginalia, in the form of unobtrusive brackets & checkmarks, throughout the volume. A classic collectible that gathers that rare group- female poets of the Beat era (here without Diane di Prima for a change) in its rarest contemporary form; with & enhanced by its distinguished, relevant association & provenance. In relatively quite fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning, faint scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers & stapled spine; a touch of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; staples beginning to rust with miniscule exterior & interior bleeding; mild rubbing, age-toning to edges of text block. Interior fine with mild age-toning to blank inner covers & page leaves esp. at blank margins/edges; tiny bumps at corners of a few leaves. Fine. [Item #9443]

Price: $40.00 save 10% $36.00