Various (Stettner, Irving (Editor); Cossery, Albert; Jacquemon, Pierre; Trantino, Tommy et al.)

Stroker No. 62 (1998)

Shavertown, PA: Thomas Birchard & Irving Stettner, 1998. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. The sixty-second issue of Stroker, the independent literary-artistic journal founded in 1974 by the Brooklyn-born poet, painter & editor, Irving Stettner (1922-2004). Like many other issues of Stettner's esteemed literary journal that we presently have on offer (see TMB Item Nos. 8741; 8739; & 7831), this issue features work — in this case, artwork — by Tommy Trantino (b. 1938), a convicted murderer who was sentenced to death for the 1963 killing of two New Jersey police officers. Following the commutation of his sentence to life imprisonment, Trantino developed his talents as a poet & visual artist while incarcerated. Trantino's drawings & writings became recurring features of Stroker, and speak the editor's willigness to champion voices from well beyond the periphery. In addition to visual art by Trantino, Stroker No. 62 features work by the French painter, Pierre Jacquemon (1936-2001), a celebrated artist & member-adherent to the "Lyon School" of painting; an essay by Albert Cossery (1913-2008), the deeply fascinating Franco-Egyptian novelist & screenwriter some call "the Voltaire of the Nile"; fiction by Stettner, himself; & much more. For a full list of contributors & contents, see the photographs attached to this listing. Literary journal in stapled wrappers: the First-&-likely-only Printing of the sixty-second issue of Stettner's Stroker. In strong Near Fine condition with only minute-to-moderate shelf-wear & some light bumping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; a few mild exhibits of use-based vertical creasing present at leftmost fine-edge of front cover near top staple; & a lone, light stain present at/along bottom right-hand corner of pg. 35; otherwise, clean with interior unmarked. Near Fine. [Item #9485]

Price: $50.00 save 10% $45.00