Various (Briffault, Robert; Hodges, Susan; McClure, Michael; Olson, Charles; Reich, Wilhelm; Spicer, Jack et al.)

Root, Branch & Mammal: A Monthly Bulletin of Animal Discourse No. 2 (October 1970)

Tunbridge, VT: Center for the Study of Cultural Morphology & Mutation, 1970. First Printing. Stapled Sheets. "TWINNING WEASLES KISS WITH BITES/ and roll with love./ --Tipped canines rip,/ too gentle/ to tear/ loved FUR./ Red ants, buckeye, a kit fox, etc.,/ ARE/ ALL/ THAT ARE LEFT/ OF THE BREATH/ OF SABER TUSKED TIGERS/ --are all that are left of the Pleistocene horses./ GREAT WHALES GROUND INTO CAT FOOD!!!/ (( Right in California//CHECK IT! ))/ O.K.?/ O.K.!/ GO, BABY, GO!/ Let's make new wings grow on feet and brow!" (Michael McClure, "A THOUGHT," unpaginated) The second of only two issues ever produced of this exceedingly scarce literary-cultural-political journal published by the "Center for the Study of Cultural Morphology & Mutation" in Vermont. With the 1927 essay "Contribution to a Theory of Matriarchy" by Robert Briffault (1874-1948), the French proto-feminist social anthropologist, translated into English by Susan Hodges; the poem "A THOUGHT" (quoted in its entirety above) by Michael McClure 1932-2020), the primary poet of the Beat Generation/ San Francisco Renaissance-&-Beyond who was notably animal-centric & therefore appropriate for inclusion here; the poem-pronouncement "THEORY OF SOCIETY" by Charles Olson (1910-1970), the Great Black Mountain-&-Beyond Poet's Poet who is our favorite Maximus Obscurantist; "BIOLOGICAL MISCALCULATION IN THE HUMAN STRUGGLE" by Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), the still-controversial Austrian-born psychoanalyst whom we Third Minds know was the inventor of the Orgone Accumulator that William S. Burroughs used & swore by throughout his life; a 1962 letter-to-the-editor/Jeremiad by poet Jack Spicer (1925-1965), a key & influential figure of the Beat Generation/ San Francisco Renaissance; & more. Sheets incl. covers stapled once at upper left corner, first-&-only printing. 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 WSB, 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 died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but which has also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House including this gem. Third Mind Books proceeds to reverently curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy that is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. A legendary, hardly-obtainable relic of the later Mimeograph Revolution in its singularly rarest contemporary form, with most-distinguished & relevant provenance. In relatively quite near-fine-to-fine condition considering its notorious fragility & scarcity: Mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning & spotting esp. to margins/edges of front & back covers; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; several tiny-to-very-small chips, closed tears esp. from left edge of front cover, right edge of back cover with minimal loss of paper; mild-to-moderate rubbing, age-toning to text block incl. spine; single staple in process of rusting with minimal bleeding; front cover leaf detached from staple but completely intact. Interior relatively fine with light age-toning, occasional spotting to inner covers & page leaves esp. at margins/edges; tiny bumps & small, mostly faint creases at corners of some leaves; occasional very short tears at a few corners, edges of leaves with miniscule loss of paper. Near Fine-Fine. [Item #9480]

Price: $400.00 save 10% $360.00