San Francisco, CA: The Print Mint, 1969. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. From the fevered mind & pen of Robert Crumb comes this iconic underground comix classic. Beckoning the reader to "Plunge into the Depths of Despair," it is the essence of ennui, liberally sprinkled with outrageous sexuality, as only Crumb can depict. A landmark work of the golden age of the counterculture, when all barriers were broken for a turned-on... More
[Item #2217]
San Francisco, CA: The Rip Off Press, 1969. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. In this first number of the golden age underground comic, Robert Crumb conjures Lenore Goldberg, a bona fide feminist heroine along with her "Girl Commandos" who nevertheless stays true to his, ah, famously fetishistic fantasies that got him into so much controversy with that very group during its strident early phase. With other adventures, including a wonderful "Hi-Lites... More
[Item #2227]
San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Comic Book Company, 1971. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. The second number in the series entirely devoted to one of Robert Crumb's most acclaimed underground comic creations- Mr. Natural. With several episodes featuring Flakey Foont, Mr. Natural's protege-sidekick, & much more. An inimitable, ingenious work of the imagination, the epitome of the 1960s counterculture just starting to curdle into disillusionment & self-parody at the beginning of... More
[Item #2226]
San Francisco, CA: The Print Mint, 1970. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. A single-issue title entirely written & illustrated by Robert Crumb from the golden age of underground comix. Featuring "Mr. Natural Goes to a Meeting of the Minds"; "Honeybunch Kaminsky "the Drug-Crazed Runaway" in She's Leaving Home" & more. A prime example of Crumb's subversive, twisted genius- the dark humor, satire & misanthropy with a heavy dose of sexual obsession... More
[Item #2232]
Chicago, IL: The Bijou Publishing Empire, Inc./The Print Mint, 1970. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. The fourth number of this golden-age exemplar of underground comix features several works by Robert Crumb, including a Mr. Natural episode & "Projunior and Honeybunch" (outrageously scatological even for him); Daniel Clyne, Kim Deitch & Skip Williamson. This is the first printing, indicated by "Hey Kids! Adults Only!" in red lettering above title on front cover;... More
[Item #2216]
San Francisco, CA: Apex Novelties, 1972. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. A very special production from the golden age of underground comix. Features the first appearance of "Maus" by Art Spiegelman, which much later & in different, expanded two-part form would earn the Pulitzer Prize. Also "What a World!" parts one & two by Robert Crumb with his infamous urban-hipster cat & bird-woman characters; a "Trots and Bonnie" episode with very... More
[Item #2222]
San Francisco, CA: Apex Novelties/The Print Mint, 1969. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. This third number of the iconic series of underground comix features the work of Robert Crumb, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, S. Clay Wilson & introduces Gilbert Shelton (the nine-page epic "Wonder Wart-Hog"). The impact of the early Zap Comix cannot be overstated, & continues to resonate in our art & culture. Presented as a "Special 69 Issue" featuring... More
[Item #2207]
San Francisco, CA: Apex Novelties/The Print Mint, 1968. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. This second number of the iconic series of underground comix features the work of Robert Crumb & introduces Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso & S. Clay Wilson. A record-breaking milestone of "Adults Only!!" political incorrectness, provocation & psychedelia that continues to resonate in the collective consciousness of global art & culture. This is a first printing, as indicated by... More
[Item #2206]
San Francisco, CA: The Golden Gate Publishing Company, 1972. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. The one & only issue of this quintessential production by Robert Crumb, subtitled "A Comic for the Broad Masses!" on front cover. Featuring "Fritz the Cat-"Superstar"" in which his famous feline creation is dispatched by a bird-woman with an ice pick. Legend has it that Crumb wanted to end any further treatments of Fritz after being disappointed... More
[Item #2229]
San Francisco, CA: Apex Novelties, 1968. First Printing (Charles Plymell Edition). Stapled Wrappers. This is the very first printing of Zap Comix No.1, which inaugurated the "underground comix" phenomenon, a highlight of the 1960s counterculture. Robert Crumb illustrated & wrote the entire issue, his subversive genius broke all barriers. Mr. Natural, the "Keep on Truckin'..." figures & other images that made their debut here have resonated in the collective consciousness... More
[Item #2164]
Buffalo, NY: University Press- State University of New York at Buffalo, 1968. First Edition. Softcover. Signed by Editor Allen De Loach on title page; & poet Diane Wakoski below her photograph, opposite her contribution. A collection of works by poets of the lower east side of NYC during the first half of the 1960s, a time & place of legendary literary ferment as the Beat Generation touched off a countercultural... More
[Item #2374]
Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1990. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Edward Dorn. A later collection of poems by Edward Dorn (1929-1999), among the key Black Mountain Poets along with Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan & Charles Olson. Subtitled "A Chronicle of the Eighties," its many, mostly short poems are all individually titled, but also super-titled "Abhorrences" in their upper margins along with date (or season), year & sometimes... More
[Item #2390]
New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1945. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed & inscribed by John O'Hara, author of introduction, to Lauren Bacall in year of publication. The first compilation of writings by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the canonical American author. With two complete novels, The Great Gatsby & Tender is the Night, & nine stories, selected by Dorothy Parker & with an introduction by John O'Hara. This is the first edition... More
[Item #2193]
Heerlen, Holland: Uitgeverij 261, 1980. First English/Dutch Limited Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Signed & dated by Allen Ginsberg. This is the first English/Dutch bilingual edition of Allen Ginsberg's important later poem, Plutonian Ode. This edition of one thousand copies predates the City Lights Books Pocket Poets Series edition (a compilation with other works) by two years. The English text is followed by the Dutch translation, with extensive parallel footnotes in both... More
[Item #2272]
San Francisco, CA: The Rip Off Press/San Francisco Comic book Company, 1970. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. The first number in the series of countercultural-psychedelic interpretations of the 1950s EC horror comics. With such horrifically humorous episodes as "Head Before Tail!" written & illustrated by Greg Irons; "The Answer" by Dave Sheridan (a cautionary tale on a most amoral man's search for immortality); "The Intruder" by Jack Jackson & more. This... More
[Item #2230]
Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 1990. First Trade Edition. Softcover. Signed with citation to Tom Clark by Anselm Hollo. A volume of poetry by Anselm Hollo (1934-2013), the award-winning Finnish-born poet & translator who at one time taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado (co-founded by Allen Ginsberg & Anne Waldman). This is the first trade edition, a softcover original in sewn... More
[Item #2438]
New York, NY: Power Mad Press, 1979. First Printing. Softcover. Inscribed & signed by Bob Holman. A collection of poetry by Bob Holman, the acclaimed & prolific practitioner of spoken-word performances associated with the St. Marks Poetry Project in NYC. With photographs of & graphics by the poet along with text. Large-format softcover original. This copy is inscribed, signed & dated in the year of publication by Holman on the... More
[Item #2450]
New York, NY: Random House/The Modern Library, 1953. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Signed & Inscribed by John O'Hara to Lauren Bacall. The first Modern Library edition, as stated on copyright page, of John O'Hara's classic novel, first published in 1934. With a new forward by the author. This is a very special copy- it is inscribed & signed by O'Hara on the half-title page: "To Betty/This wasn't done/with a wave..... More
[Item #2194]
Philadelphia, PA & New York, NY: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. "The Crying of Lot 49...is the story of Oedipa Maas, a young woman who finds herself appointed executrix of a former lover's estate. This is annoying enough, but when it leads to the gradual revelation of the secret postal system of the outcasts..."(from rear flap) A first edition of Thomas Pynchon's second novel, published three years... More
[Item #1827]
New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1950. First Printing. Hardcover. Signed by John Steinbeck with citation to Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall. This is the first edition, first printing of the canonical American writer John Steinbeck's "play in story form" as it is subtitled, "First published by The Viking Press in November 1950" as noted in the copyright page. This presentation copy is very special indeed-... More
[Item #2163]
New York, NY: Macmillan, 1975. First Edition. Hardcover. The Editor of MarioPuzo's The Godfather and hundreds of other famous books, William Targ was a legend of New York book publishing. In this memoir, he gives portraits and insights into the famous authors he has worked with including Allen Ginsberg, Samual Beckett, Saul Bellow, Mario Puzo, W.H. Auden, and many others. Over 400 pages of brutal and honest confessional. Inscribed by... More
[Item #1356]
New York, NY: First Intensity Press, 1995. First Printing. Softcover. Signed by Diane di Prima at her contribution. This early number of the literary journal features a poem, "Serpentine," by Diane di Prima, among the foremost original female members of the Beat Generation. di Prima has hand-signed her name at an upward angle just below the end of the poem on the lower right margin of the page (23). Also... More
[Item #2422]
New York, NY: Adventures in Poetry/The Poetry Project, 1972. Limited First Edition. Stapled Sheets. Hand-lettered & numbered edition signed by poet Anne Waldman & artist Joe Brainard. An early collection of poems relating to the title locale by Anne Waldman, among the primary poets of the later Beat Generation, the New York School & beyond. With front, back cover & three full-page interior illustrations by the legendary writer/artist Joe Brainard..... More
[Item #2306]
New York, NY: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Lynd Ward. This is the original first edition/first printing of the novel in woodcut by Lynd Ward (1905-1985). Ward's series of novels in woodcuts, of which this is the second, are now in the canon of the Library of America as a two-volume boxed set. Among those inspired by Ward's wordless novels in pictures was Allen... More
[Item #2202]