Sunbury, MA: Water Row Press, 1987. First Edition. Softcover. Lettered & Signed by (and with photograph of) Alan Ansen. "When Carl Solomon's Uncle, A.A. Wyn, the publisher of Ace Books, saw three chapters of THE VIGILANTES, he said, 'Ah, a study of the milieu.' The remark irritated me at the time (see the appended Statement); but I am now thirty-five years later inclined to see it as a fair comment..... More
[Item #3800]
N/P: Filthythumb Press, 1968. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. On approaching the work of French dramatist, poet, essayist & actor Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), one is by turns intrigued and bewildered, but is perhaps most notably (albeit occasionally) brought to epiphany. If the contemporary English slang adjective "batshit" was then in use, it would have been employed in virtually all descriptions of Artaud. An unlikely casualty of medical misdiagnoses as a child..... More
[Item #3590]
Asheville, NC: ReFresh Press, 2004. First Edition. Sewn Wrappers. "Palmate is not an illustration of understanding. It is a wail of unknowing, with reaches toward sense made through questions, questions that are expressions of unknowing...Palmate is another word for seagull feet...Only after discovering another meaning in a dictionary, "having sections radiating from a common center," did the somewhat flat term sit nicely as the title." (from introduction, "Some First Surf.")..... More
[Item #3559]
Cherry Valley, NY: Cherry Valley Editions, 1975. Limited First Edition Thus. Stapled Wrappers. "The Electric Banana by Mary Beach is a unique auditory experience approaching the actual found sounds of language as it mutters half a street sign repetitive argument overheard conversations bits of pop songs in millions of minds like some gigantic octopus with myriad tentacles..." (from Introduction by William S. Burroughs) The avant-garde stream-of-consciousness cult classic by Mary..... More
[Item #3331]
Cherry Valley, NY: Cherry Valley Editions, 1980. First Edition. Softcover. This volume consists of The Electric Banana by Mary Beach with an introduction by William S. Burroughs, first published separately in 1975; The Gothic Banana, a humorous piece in unique dialect-spelling; & No Eye No Cyclone. Beach (whose illustrious literary family included Sylvia Beach, proprietor of Shakespeare & Co. in Paris & the first publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses) &..... More
[Item #1951]
Ellensburg, WA: Vagabond Publications, 2000. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. "I hit the streets at ten," writes the Hunckean Beat-&-Beyond poet-publisher John Bennett. "Carnival gigs and fruit tramp days. Shady doings in South Philly and Cleveland." Of age to fight in the Vietnam War, Bennett continues: "The army drew me in like a magnet and shot me straight off to Nam. I was only tunnel rat over six feet tall, a...... More
[Item #3874]
Dover, DE: Bottle of Smoke Press, 2011. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by John Bennett. A small-format jewel of a production from Bill Roberts' Bottle of Smoke Press, featuring six prose-poetic "shards" by the great writer & publisher John Bennett. A post-Beat legend since the 1960s, Bennett is still active from his perch in Washington State & regularly dispatches his jagged, illuminating shards by email to an eager following, including this..... More
[Item #1694]
London, England: Sixpack / Pierre Joris, 1974. First Printing. Softcover. Signed by decorated Essayist, Educator, Poet and Translator Clayton Eshleman. Offered here are two contiguous issues of Pierre Joris' "Sixpack" magazine of London, England, featuring work from a host of familiar names known to many readers of mid-century American literature. Issue six contains contributions from Ted Berrigan, William S. Burroughs, Clayton Eshleman, Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Jackson Mac Low, Eric..... More
[Item #3055]
Cherry Valley, NY: Cherry Valley Editions, 1975. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Noted San Francisco poet and mentor to the Second San Francisco Renaissance poets, Jack Hirschman, wrote of fellow Californian John Brandi: "He has been an open roader (sic) for much of his life and like his two great forebears, Whitman and Neruda, has named the minute particulars, the details of his sojournings...infusing them with a whole gamut of..... More
[Item #3944]
Sudbury, MA: Water Row Press, 2000. Limited First Edition. Hand-Sewn Wrappers. Signed by Bonnie Frazer (Bremser). "The Gaslight was a place for bad poetry although sometimes a young person would show up and Ray would be impressed. I was learning to distinguish the legitimate from the bad. Ray was an impressive poet and a great performer too. It made me cringe to hear some of the other poets--pure sentimentality and..... More
[Item #3964]
Santa Barbara, CA: Am Here Books, 1985. Limited First Edition. Stapled Sheets. "in a past life/ i was a field of wheat/ which was mowed & ground/ into a bag of grain/ which a cow ate,/ who, which later, i ate." (first stanza) A long, inspired, exemplary poem by Ray Bremser (1934-1998), the legendary Literary (& literal) Outlaw-Poet of the Beat Generation & Beyond. Among his most well-known works, this..... More
[Item #3661]
Sudbury, MA: Water Row Press, 1998. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Published just before Ray Bremser's death, this beautifully-produced volume contains a number of Jazz poems--a specialty and focus point for Bremser. In sprawling Olsonian stanzas which crowd the page in a bebop clamor, Bremser's stream-of-consciousness riffs tumble along, chorus after chorus spilling successively onto the page. Bremser, himself no stranger to syringes full of methedrine, here, too exudes frenetic splendor..... More
[Item #3959]
Columbus, OH: Buchenroth Publishing Company, 1998. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Written on the occasion of the Ray Bremser Memorial held in Cherry Valley, NY at Allen Ginsberg's farm in 1998, poet-publisher (and Beat student/devotee) Michael Buchenroth brings us the elegiac and powerful "Four Beats Diverged in Ginsberg's Woods." Buchenroth writes: "Indeed, ole Al convinced us / to turn left there just past / where that ole yellow car sat /..... More
[Item #3972]
San Francisco, CA: Dave Haselwood Books, 1967. Second Edition. Softcover. First published by the Auerhahn Press in 1960, this is the Second Edition of The Exterminator, with different colors on covers, & a slightly larger format. (Maynard & Miles, A4(b) p. 22) One of 1000 copies. An early & very important collaboration between WSB & Gysin, they both contribute texts & Gysin provides calligraphic illustrations, including on the covers. "The..... More
[Item #1425]
n/p (distributed by City Lights Books, San Francisco, CA: Beach Books Texts & Documents, 1968. Third Edition. Stapled Wrappers. A Report on the Synthesis of the Apomorphine Formula. The third & final edition of this very rare item by William S. Burroughs, Founding Father of the Beat Generation & among the most influential literary & cultural figures of all time. Preceded by the virtually unobtainable 1965 first edition by Ed..... More
[Item #3576]
London, England: Aloes, 1973. First Edition; First Printing. Softcover. Signed by William S. Burroughs to noted scholar & collector Donald L. Kaufmann. "The white subway gathered silent speed as buildings and landscapes slid by- faster- faster- a blur of film flakes then pictures leaped into sharp focus- mist and frogs in 1920 roads- morning sleep of detour- needle beer in Sid's. He was in a long tunnel of old photos..... More
[Item #2903]
London, England: Aloes Books, 1975. First Edition. Chapbook in Stapled Wrappers. Transcripts of a 1964 radio broadcast by Eric Mottram, early William S. Burroughs critical biographer (William Burroughs: The Algebra of Need, 1977) responding to the ban of WSB's works in Britain at the time; & a 1973 conversation between Mottram & WSB. A great rarity full of insight by & about WSB, in very fine condition with only very..... More
[Item #1429]
Essex, England: Once Books, 1966. First Printing. Stapled Sheets. Inscribed & signed by Tom Clark. The first published work by Tom Clark (1941-2018), the esteemed poet & biographer of Jack Kerouac, Charles Olson & Ed Dorn; the epitome of those in our "Prolific & Underappreciated" category whom it is our special mission to spotlight & resurrect. A poet-printer product of the mid-late stages of the mimeograph Revolution, this collection features..... More
[Item #3563]
New York, NY: Angel Hair Books, 1968. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "Hello. May I be alive in your dream of unconsciousness?" (first sentence/ entire first page) An early work by Tom Clark (1941-2018), the brilliant & prolific poet, editor & biographer associated with but distinct from many Beat-&-Beyond writers & schools; in collaboration with his contemporary Ron Padgett, the New York School master poet who is still with us..... More
[Item #3544]
Essex, England: Voiceprint Edition, 1971. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "Poetry is the story of the soul./ Music is the sound of the soul./ Painting is the picture of the soul." ("Credo," pg. 12) A slim chapbook of poems by Tom Clark (1941-2018), the prodigious poet, editor & biographer who epitomizes our category of "The Prolific & Underappreciated." Featuring haiku-like poems & stanzas rich with the sly humor, profundity & weirdness..... More
[Item #3650]
Los Angeles, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1972. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Hand-numbered & signed by Tom Clark, with additional signature on loose prospectus card. "It is/ time/ to protest/ everywhere/ and in/ every/ way/ that the/ system/ of repression/ presently/ in force/ is more/ monstrous/ and degrading/ to/ mankind/ than any/ other/ that has/ ever/ been/ applied." ("applied," pg. 35) A collection of early (yet all-too-still-relevant) poems by Tom Clark..... More
[Item #3575]
Cherry Valley, NY: Cherry Valley Editions, 1976. First Edition. Stapled wrappers. A booklet of poetry, published by Charles Plymell's Cherry Valley Editions. Corners slightly bumped, slight wear to front & back covers, otherwise fine. Very Good. More
[Item #1097]
Crumb, Robert. Demarest, NJ: Analecta Press, 1968. First Edition. Softcover. Scarce R. Crumb contribution to this book of poetry by Subterranean poetry legend, Douglas Blazek. Front cover and three interior illustrations by Crumb. Frontispiece by Jeff Nuttall. Plus three photo collages by renegade poet and publisher, d.a. levy. A few pages at beginning starting to loosen, with title page present but standing as a single unbound leaf; slight yellowing to..... More
[Item #1098]
San Francisco, CA: Parachute Salon Press, 1974. First Edition. Stapled Sheets. Inscribed & signed (twice) by Tom Cuson to Thomas Rain Crowe. "shot down from his fighter-bomber, he was a prisoner of war in north vietnam/ for seven & a half years. he learned french. he taught french. he wanted to/ be an astronaut. he followed orders. he survived. he came back after seven/ & a half years. he shook..... More
[Item #3731]
Pocatello, ID: Wild Dog, 1963. First Printing. Stapled Sheets. "In many respects- name, form, and content- Wild Dog boldly embodies much of what we identify as the "mimeo revolution." Preceded by A Pamphlet, Wild Dog, which joined the mimeograph revolution in April 1963, was the brainchild of Edward Dorn, who was familiar with the emergence of divergent American writing through his association with Black Mountain College, where he had studied..... More
[Item #3482]