801. Philosophia perennis. [Minneapolis]: Coffee House Press, 1987.
$85
13½ " x 19" letterpress broadside, signed by Anne Waldman, printed in yellow on blue paper.
802. The book of criticisms. [Minneapolis]: Coffee House Press, 2000.
$125
Edition limited to 100 numbered and signed copies, 11" x 15 printed on the occasion of the author's reading at the Walker Art Center, 2000.
803. Photo. [West Branch, Iowa]: Toothpaste Press, 1982.
$50
Letterpress broadside, edition limited to 70 numbered copies (this, marked 'os' - ?), approx. 13" x 10", printed in yellow, gray, and black; printed on the occasion of the author's reading at the Walker Art Center, March 19, 1981. This copy boldly signed by Waldrop.
Not in OCLC as an individual item, but included in the Bookslinger Twenty-one Broadsides portfolio, 1982-83.
804. Five broadsides from Fusions: A Sense of Place 14 October - 18 November 1985. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1985.
$250
Edition limited to 300 copies (this, no. 295) printed at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts by Coffee House Press on the occasion of the authors' lectures and readings at the Walker Art Center, all broadsides 10¼" x 13¼", all illustrated, all designed and printed by Allan Kornblum, and all signed by the poets/authors: Fran Lebowitz, William Gass, Patricia Hampl, John B. Jackson, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Contained in a black stiff paper portfolio lettered in white. From the library of the printer, Allan Kornblum, founder of the Coffee House Press.
805. Between the tides: comprising sketches, tales and poems, including Hungry Land. Los Gatos, California: W. S. and Glenn Walker, printers, 1885.
$75
First and only edition, 8vo, pp. [8], [5]-250; vignette title-p. (toad under a toadstool), several small woodcuts and wood-engravings; original pebble-grain brown cloth lettered in gilt on upper cover; covers rubbed, pages toned; good and sound.
Cowan p. 667.
806. No mortal blow. Baltimore: Contemporary Poetry, 1944.
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. 55, [1]; tan cloth boards, fine, dust jacket in fragments and laid in. Volume 1 of the Contemporary Poetry Library series.
807. Biographer's notes: poems ... Drawings by Paul Otero. Council Bluffs, IA: Yellow Barn Press, 1984.
$100
Edition limited to 145 copies (this, no. 59), 8vo, pp. 42, [2]; engraved title-page vignette and 3 full-page text illustrations after drawings by Paul Otero; full red cloth over boards, spine and front cover paper labels; fine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Walsdorf A5.
808. Biographer's notes: poems by... drawings by Paul Otero. Council Bluffs, IA: Yellow Barn Press, 1984.
$75
Edition limited to 145 copies, this an unnumbered binder's copy, 8vo, pp. 42, [2]; engraved title-page vignette and 3 full-page text illustrations after drawings by Paul Otero; full red cloth over boards, spine and front cover paper labels; fine. Original prospectus laid in.
Walsdorf A5.
809. Sukey. Boston: Cummings & Hillard ... E. Bellamy, printer, 1821.
$100
First edition, 8vo, pp. vi, 72; original green printed wrappers; wrappers chipped, unopened, very good. American Imprints 7564; Sabin 101203. Cited in BAL as a parody of Fitz-Greene Halleck's Fanny, though a contemporary review simply calls it a capable immitator.
810. Buckeye ballads. [Toledo, OH]: by the author, 1906.
$50
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], 83; a few vignette illustrations throughout; a very good copy in original green cloth lettered in black on upper cover.
Twenty-eight poems, the last, "Pelee's Revenge," centering on the great Martinique volcano.
811. Ecstasy and other poems. Athol, Mass.: W. Paul Cook -- The Recluse Press, 1928.
$200
First edition of Wandrei's first book, limited to 322 copies, issued by the same publisher who attempted to publish Lovecraft's ill-fated The Shunned House. 8vo, pp. 40; original purple cloth, printed paper label on upper cover, original glassine jacket with very small tear at the bottom of the rear panel; everything else fine and bright. With the rare printed prospectus laid in.
This is one of a group of remainders - as I remember, about 15 - handled by myself and Peter Stern 35 years ago. The estate bookplate we had printed up at the time is present, as is the prospectus which wasn't in all copies.
812. The feast of tabernacles. A poem for music. In two parts. Cambridge: published by John Owen, 1837.
$300
First edition, 8vo, pp. x, 38, [2]; original brown printed wrappers; spine partially perished, light wear and soiling, stitching loosening; good or better. This copy with a presentation from Ware inscribed "H. W. J[r]. to S. Willard." S. Willard is likely Simon Willard, the American clockmaker and a friend of Ware.
An oratorio was performed and published the same year: The Feast of Tabernacles. An Oratorio. The Music by Charles Zeuner. The Words by Henry Ware, Jr. Performed at the Odeon by the Choir and Orchestra of the Boston Academy of Music. "It may be proper to remark, that the copy here given differs in many passages from that to be performed in the oratorio. It was convenient to the purposes of the composer to make variations and additions for the sake of the musical effect. As the author, however, presumes to hope that the poem may interest his friends, and find favor with some readers, independently of the music, he has desired to exhibit it in its original form, and for that reason has made this separate publication" (from the Advertisement). American Imprints 48667; Singerman 642.
813. Inhale / exhale: a modest manual for living. 2013.
$45
Edition limited to 30 (?) copies, 4¾" x 2¾", pp. [24]; fine in original gray paper-covered boards printed in yellow; the text "inhale/exhale" printed in orange. Fine.
Not found in OCLC.
814. Tell me a story. [Minneapolis]: Coffee House Press, 1987.
$75
Edition limited to 500 numbered copies, 22" x 15", poetry broadside printed in red, blue, and black, excerpted from Warren's Audubon: A Vision, on the occasion of the appointment of Robert Penn Warren as the Nation's first Poet Laureate.
815. A poem, delivered before the Mercantile Library Association, at their twenthy-fifth anniversary, October 15, 1845. Boston: T. R. Marvin, 1845.
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. 20; removed from binding, upper wrapper perished and lower present, note in pencil on verso of title leaf stating that this was a gift of US Senator Charles Sumner Esq. to Harvard, with deaccession stamp, text sound and clean.
816. The widow's son: a sketch from real life. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1843.
$50
8vo, pp. 14, [2]; original printed wrappers; removed from binding; very good.
Harvard Library duplicate with a note in pencil on the verso of the title page: "1849 Feb 9 gift of Charles Sumner Esq. of Boston."
American Imprints 43-5144.
817. Bread and wine, with Pythagorean. Poems. Vancouver & San Francisco: The Headscratch Press, [1987].
$150
First edition limited to 25 copies (this, no. 11), 8vo, pp. [34]; fine throughout in original printed wrappers. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
This edition not found in OCLC. A second printing of 350 copies was published later the same year. This is Watts's first book.
818. Thumbprint. [New York & Philadelphia]: Telegraph Books, [1971].
$50
First edition (50 copies have been numbered and signed by the author); 12mo, pp. [3]-36; back cover spotted, else a near fine copy in original pictorial wrappers with a photograph of the author by Elsa Dorfman. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded the Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
819. With lead and line along varying shores. A book of poems. Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1901.
$50
First edition limited to 100 copies "bound entirely uncut and with paper label," 12mo, pp. [1, ads], vi, [1], 111, [8], double-page facsimile inserted; all edges uncut; a fine copy in original blue-gray paper-covered boards, printed paper label on spine in red and black, and preserving the original printed dust jacket which is chipped and split, small pieces missing from extremities, and with a few small tape repairs on verso.
The author was the inventor of the adding machine.
820. Carved by Obadiah Verity. [Colorado Springs]: The Press at Colorado College, 1993.
$100
Edition limited to 40 numbered copies (this, no. 15) signed by Jim Trissel; narrow folio, pp. [30]; fine in original blue cloth stamped in silver on upper cover; bound by Karen Pardue. From the library of Kim Merker.
821. American sentences. The history of West Seneca, New York. [Madison]: Black Mesa Press, 1981.
$75
Edition limited to 185 copies (this, no. 183), 8vo, pp. [38]; printed in red and black; illustrated by Kathy Kuehn; original card wrappers with green pictorial dust jacket; generally fine. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
"Black Mesa Press & Dark Hollow Papermill constitute a good part of the life of Alison Circle & Charles Alexander ... We see American Sentences as our first book. ... Of the 185 copies, 150 use Frankfurt paper & 35 our handmade paper; all 185 covers are the handmade."
822. Monday in the evening 21:VIII:61. Milan: Serigrafia Pezzoli, 1964].
$100
First edition limited to 309 copies (this, no. 238 - there were also 18 signed by the author), 4to, 11" x 8½", pp. [2], 19, [5]; double-page folding frontispiece portraits; illustrations in the text by the author; the text copied by the author on 28 October, 1963 at San Francisco; fine copy in original printed red wrappers. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
823. Self-portrait, from another direction. San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1959.
$80
Broadsheet 19.5 x 9 inches, folded into 6ths in brown paper wrappers.
This copy is from the library of Israel "Izzy" Young, former owner of the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village, New York, with his ownership note on the lower cover.
824. Severance pay. San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1970.
$50
First edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 51, [1]; lightly rubbed and extremities a bit sunned; all else very good in original pictorial wrappers by the author. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
This copy with a 12-line draft of a poem by Kornblum on the back flyleaf: "At the Liquor Store."
825. Artemis to Actaeon. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909.
$500
First edition, 8vo, pp. v, [1], 90; orig. green ribbed cloth stamped in gilt on spine and upper cover; minor wear, but generally a very good, sound copy.
Wharton's second book of poetry, following her famously rare Verses (Newport, 1878).
826. After all, not to create only. Recited by Walt Whitman on invitation of Managers American Institute, on opening their 40th annual exhibition, New York, September 7, 1871. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871.
$750
8vo, pp. vii, [2],10-24, [4]; original limp green cloth stamped and lettered in gilt on the upper cover, t.e.g., chocolate endpapers. Very slight soiling, otherwise fine and bright. BAL's binding A (no priority). BAL 21405
827. After all, not to create only. Recited by Walt Whitman on invitation of Managers American Institute, on opening their 40th annual exhibition, New York, September 7, 1871. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871.
$750
8vo, pp. vii, [2],10-24, [4]; original green cloth stamped and lettered in gilt on the upper cover, t.e.g. Very slight soiling, otherwise fine and bright. BAL's binding B (no priority), although BAL speculates that this may be a remainder binding, as Whitman, apparently, had not seen a copy so bound. BAL 21405
828. Poems written during the progress of the abolition question in the United States, between the years 1830 and 1838. Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1837.
$450
First edition, second issue, with two added poems at the back; 12mo, pp. 103, [1]; engraved frontispiece, 2 medallion wood engravings, woodcut ornaments in the text; front hinge cracked, else very good in original green cloth stamped in gilt on the upper cover. Whittier later said the book was published without his knowledge, full of errors, "merely for abolition purposes."
In this copy a suitor has added a holograph verse presentation (14 lines) to one Abby Warner, signed by with the initials "A...y, S...n."
Afro-Americana 11180; BAL 21705; Howe Library, JGW 53.
829. Snow-bound: a winter idyl. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1866.
$400
First edition, first state with page 52 so numbered; 12mo, pp. 52; steel-engraved frontispiece portrait with tissue guard (tissue with tear but no loss); wood-engraved vignette title page; publisher's maroon cloth stamped in gilt on the upper cover; mild foxing to prelims and terminals, spine ends rubbed with small breaks in the cloth and spine slightly sunned; all else very good.
BAL 21862
830. Songs of labor, and other poems. Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields, 1850.
$125
First edition, BAL's binding 'B' (no priority), 12mo, pp. 127; 4pp. ads dated May, 1850 inserted at front endpaper; very slight wear at spine ends, else fine and bright.
BAL 21771; Currier, p. 69-71.
831. The Pennsylvania pilgrim and other poems. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1872.
$50
First edition, first printing as noted by BAL; 12mo, pp. 129; frontispiece, vignette title-p., wood-engraved head- and tail-pieces and one full-p. illus.; fine, bright copy in orig. green cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine.
BAL 21904
832. The poetical works. In three volumes. [With:] The prose works. In two volumes. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co., The Riverside Press, 1880-82.
$125
Together, 5 volumes, small 8vo, contemporary if not original half tan calf over marbled boards, gilt-decorated spines in 6 compartments, red and black morocco labels in 2, marbled edges and endpapers; slightly scuffed; near fine.
833. Prairie grass: a writer's newsletter. Volume I, no. 1 to volume III, no. 4 [all published]. Iowa City, Iowa: Prairia Grass, 1976-78.
$85
Eleven self-mailer issues, lacking vol. III, no 2. 11" x 8½", 8 pages per issue, and mimeographed on paper of varying colors, and all addressed to The Toothpaste Press, West Branch, Iowa.
Most issues contain a schedule of literary readings at local bookstores and Iowa City Public Library, articles by or about local writers, and schedule of speakers from the University of Iowa's International Writing Program. Prairie Grass was supported by Iowa City Creative Reading series, Iowa City/Johnson County Arts Council, Iowa City Public Library, and the Iowa State Arts Council. Letters contributed by Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Penn Warren, and and articles by or about Philip Roth, John Birbeck, Jack Leggett, Lauren Geringer, Paul Engle, Michael Brien, Eileen Kelly O'Leary, Bill Johnson, Robert Bly, and Debbie Bunch, together with notices of publications, readings, lectures, etc.
Iowa only in OCLC.
834. A wood. [Minneapolis]: Coffee House Press, 1988.
$50
Edition limited to 300 copies (this, a printer's proof marked 'p.p.'), 15" x 22" poetry broadside, excerpted from Walking to Sleep, 1967. Printed on the occasion of "The Poet in the Theater," a celebration of the appointment of Wilbur as the Nation's Poet Laureate.
835. Lying and other poems. Omaha: The Cummington Press, 1987.
$50
Edition limited to 160 copies, 8vo, pp. [20]; title page printed in red and black, initials printed in red; fine copy in original gray wrappers, printed label on upper cover printed in red and black. From the library of Kim Merker.
Wilbur was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
836. For you / for sure. Willits, California: Tumbra Press, [1977].
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. [24]; fine in original printed yellow wrappers. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
Issued as Tumbra no. 9. This copy inscribed: "For Allan & Cinda far from home (Iowa? What's that?), much love from David Wilk."
837. Wisdom, a poem. Newport: printed by Oliver Farnsworth, 1804.
$450
12mo, pp. 22, [2]; original unprinted self-wrappers, stitched, as issued; very good.
AAS notes that it is attributed to Edward Wilkinson in Smith's Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books, London, 1867. Wilkinson (1728-1809) was the father-in-law of the British economist, David Ricardo. His eldest daughter, Priscilla Anne Wilkinson (1768-1849), eloped with Ricardo resulting in Ricardo's permanent estrangement from his family.
Wilkinson's obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine "describes him as 'a very respectable surgeon and a apocathary at Bow in Middlesex.' It also says that 'from an early life he had a strong propensity to poetical composition and displayed no mean ability as a satirist.' One of his poems entitled 'Wisdom' which was first published in 1751 went through nine editions" (The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, volume X, p. 43). It was first published in America in Philadelphia in 1787.
Brown, Redwood Library, R.I. Historical, HRC, and AAS in OCLC. American Imprints 7763; not in Bartlett or Hammett. This nor any American edition in Smith, Friends' Books.
838. Common ground...Drawings by Ben-Zion Shechter. [Madison]: Bieler Press, 1980.
$100
Edition limited to 150 copies signed by both the poet and the artist; 8vo, pp. [34]; 13 full-page illustrations; printed gray Zaan paper wrappers from the Schoolmeester Mill of Van Gelder; designed and printed by Gerald Lange on Charter Oak paper from Barcham Green.
This copy marked "printer's proof."
Smith, Bieler, 11.
839. Shaping the page: poems from SplitRock ... Thanks to Joyce Stuphen. Minneapolis: Flying Paper Press, 2003.
$50
Only edition and likely printed in a small edition for the participants; tall 8vo (approx. 9" x 4¼"), pp. [32]; fine in original printed green wrappers, string-bound.
Designed by Jody Williams. Poets include Betsy Kitowski, Tina Wittmer, Mike Mahany, Susan Kachel, Lisa Berg, Soraya Paris, Leslie Yoder, Nancy Nelson, Cathy Cato, and Jody Williams herself.
Not found in OCLC.
840. 62 climerikews to amuse Mr. Lear. Roswell / Denver: DBA/JCA Editions, 1983.
$50
First edition limited to 175 [crossed out and with the number changed to 200] copies, numbered and inscribed for friends of John Furnival and Jonathan Williams," 4to, pp. [50]; frontispiece by Jonathan Williams; cover drawing by John Furnival; original pictorial wrappers, strip-bound with clear plastic overlay; fine copy.
This copy is no. 62 (many [all?] copies were numbered '62') "for Allan [Kornblum] from JW."
841. An ear in Bartram's tree. Selected poems 1957-1967 ... Introduction by Guy Davenport. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969.
$150
First edition, large 8vo, pp. [162]; pictorial endpapers; fine copy in original green cloth stamped in black, pictorial green dust jacket toned at the edges and spine, and with 2 or 3 small chips. From the library of Kim Merker.
This copy inscribed by Williams to Merker: "Kim's copy. Salut! from Jonathan in the cortnfields 1971."
842. [Williams, Jonathan.] All that is lovely in men: poems. Asheville: Jonathan Williams, 1955.
$650
First edition limited to 200 copies signed by Creeley and Dan Rice, the illustrator; slim 8vo, unpaged; original plain gray wrappers, pictorial dust jacket; edges a bit toned, remains of previously removed label on upper jacket cover, glue residue on verso of jacket spine; a very good copy over all.
Jargon 10.
843. Five from up t'Dale. [Dentdale]: The Finial Press in Great Britain, 1974.
$850
Edition limited to 50 copies signed by Williams and A. Doyle Moore (this, no. 21); square brown paper portfolio approx. 15¼" x 15¼", containing a title leaf, one leaf of text, and 5 illustrated broadsides from designs by Moore; generally fine throughout. From the library of Kim Merker.
Printed at Titus Wilson and Son Ltd. in Kendal, Cumbria, England from designs by A. Doyle Moore, using various papers and types.
OCLC locates the Getty, Buffalo, Kent State, Kansas, Connecticut and Cambridge (UK) copies.
844. Strung out with Elgar on a hill. With drawings by Peter Bodnar. Urbana, Illinois: The Finial Press, 1970.
$275
Edition limited to 101 numbered copies (this, no. 69); oblong 4to, pp. [32]; 4 silkscreen illustrations; original red cloth stamped in black on the upper cover; small smudges on upper cover, else fine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Handbound by Mary Ellen Chapdu.
845. A blear ball. [Cummington, Massachusetts]: The Cummington Press, [1945].
$150
Edition limited to 85 copies (this, no. 56) signed by the author; 12mo, pp. [22]; frontispiece by Wightman Williams, original green paper-covered boards with a design on the upper cover by Williams; extremities a bit toned, otherwise a near fine copy but lacking the original glassine jacket. Bookplate of Arthur Langdon Blair. From the library of Kim Merker.
Richmond 22.
846. My country dreams. Poems 1945-1950 [wrapper title]. [Cummington, Mass.: Cummington Press, 1950].
$150
First edition limited to 75 copies printed by the Williams and Harry Duncan; 8vo, pp. [8]; original gray wrappers printed in red; some wear along the edges and discoloration along the spine; a good copy of a scarce title. From the library of Kim Merker.
"Seventy-five copies made by the author and Harry Duncan at The Cummington Press, Cummington School of the Arts, during April 1950."
Richmond 44: "Thirty-three copies not accounted for in the colophon were on Rives with an intaglio drypoint by Williams."
847. Flowers of August ... Drawings by Keith Achepohl. Iowa City: Windhover Press, University of Iowa, 1983.
$200
Edition limited to 260 copies, square 8vo, pp. [28]; illustrated throughout with floral drawings by Keith Achepohl; fine copy in original green cloth, gilt lettering on spine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Although not called for, this copy is signed by Merker on the colophon.
These seven poems appeared as a numbered sequence in Others for 1919: An Anthology of the New Verse, edited by Alfred Kreymborg. Williams included three of them individually in Sour Grapes and later again in The Collected Earlier Poems. The complete sequence is reprinted here for the first time.
Berger, Printing and the Mind of Merker, 82.
848. Flowers of August ... Drawings by Keith Achepohl. Iowa City: Windhover Press, University of Iowa, 1983.
$850
Edition limited to 260 copies, square 8vo, pp. [28]; illustrated throughout with floral drawings by Keith Achepohl; fine copy in original green cloth, gilt lettering on spine. From the library of Kim Merker.
These seven poems appeared as a numbered sequence in Others for 1919: An Anthology of the New Verse, edited by Alfred Kreymborg. Williams included three of them individually in Sour Grapes and later again in The Collected Earlier Poems. The complete sequence is reprinted here for the first time.
This copy is accompanied by a series of 23 artist's proofs on sheets approx. 18" x 11½", 2 smaller, 3 with sections cut out, and 13 with 16 small post-it notes with instructions and/or titles by Achepohl.
Berger, Printing and the Mind of Merker, 82.
849. Flowers of August ... Drawings by Keith Achepohl. Iowa City: Windhover Press, University of Iowa, 1983.
$50
Edition limited to 260 copies, square 8vo, pp. [28]; illustrated throughout with floral drawings by Keith Achepohl; fine copy in original green cloth, gilt lettering on spine. From the library of Kim Merker.
These seven poems appeared as a numbered sequence in Others for 1919: An Anthology of the New Verse, edited by Alfred Kreymborg. Williams included three of them individually in Sour Grapes and later again in The Collected Earlier Poems. The complete sequence is reprinted here for the first time.
Berger, Printing and the Mind of Merker, 82.
850. The clouds, Aigeltinger, Russia, etc.. [Aurora, New York & Cummington, Mass.]: Cummington Press / Wells College Press, 1948.
$4,000
Edition limited to 310 copies on hand-made paper, this copy unnumbered but one of LX signed by Williams; 8vo, pp. 64; fine copy in original gray cloth, printed paper label on spine, publisher's slipcase. From the library of Kim Merker.
The regular edition was unsigned, without a slipcase, and on rag paper. Printed by Harry Duncan and Wightman Williams under the direction of Victor Hammer. A wonderful collaboration among three great 20th-century printers. To say nothing of the poet.
Wallace A26. Richmond 34: "Issued jointly with the Wells College Press where Harry Duncan and Wightman Williams printed this book "through the good offices" of Victor Hammer."
851. Fugitive poetry. Boston: Peirce and Williams, 1829.
$45
First edition, first state of signature 2 as noted by BAL; 8vo, pp. [iii]-viii, [3], 10-91, [1] errata; contemporary half blue morocco over marbled boards, gilt-lettered direct on gilt-paneled spine; the whole a bit scuffed and light foxing, two small chips from the edges of the title page; all else very good and sound.
BAL 22722
852. Poem delivered before the Society of United Brothers at Brown University, on the day preceding commencement, September 6, 1831 . New York: J. & J. Harper, 1831.
$50
First edition, 8vo, pp. 76; original drab muslin, printed paper label on spine largely chipped away; moderately spotted and worn; a good, sound copy.
BAL 22731.
853. Sketches. Boston: S. G. Goodrich, 1827.
$150
First edition, 12mo, pp. 96; original drab paper-covered boards; intermittantly spotted and dampstained; good and reasonably sound. With the ownership signature of E. S. Ballard, and also of her grandmother Elisabeth L. Ballard, Briston Center, Maine.
Willis's first book, written while at Yale at the age of 21. By the time of his graduation he had already received national recognition for his poetry.
BAL 22713, binding A (no priority); American Imprints 31771.
854. Boning up. [Washington, D.C.: Some of Us Press, 1972].
$75
First edition of the author's first book, 8vo, pp. [4], 27, [1]; some toning, back wrapper a little dampstained; very good. Front cover designed by Marie Ringwald which predates her earliest work on her website by five years. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded the Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press, and who published at least three of Winch's books.
855. The attachment sonnets. Washington, D.C.: Jawbone, [1978].
$50
First edition limited to 100 copies, 4to, 11" x 8½", pp. [16]; saddle-stitched pictorial wrappers; light toning but generally near fine. Rear cover photograph of Winch by John Gossage. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
This copy inscribed "For Allan Kornblum - Terence Winch, Oct. 1978."
856. Wanderers. The poems of ... New edition. New York: Macmillan Co., 1892.
$150
Edition limited to 250 copies on handmade paper, 12mo, pp. 288; copper-engraved frontispiece; original beige cloth, printed paper label on spine (label a little foxed); a very good copy.
Inscribed by the author, on the front free endpaper, with two lines of verse.
857. Three poems. [Cummington, Mass.]: Cummington Press, 1950.
$45
Edition limited to 300 copies, 16mo, pp. [8]; title-page woodcut by Wightman Williams; original marbled wrappers; fine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Richmond 43.
858. Cross-country. Poems. Madison: Quest Publishing, 1972.
$50
First edition, 8vo, pp. [20]; printed from typescript; fine in original pictorial wrappers. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded the Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
This copy inscribed: "For Alan [sic] - Don't get caught in the toothpaste squeeze! Best energy ! Warren Woessner 7-23-75."
859. [Wolfsong..] Three early titles from the series. v.p.: Wolfsong, 1978.
$45
3 volumes, 8vo; nos. 1-2, and 4 from this series of American poetry chap books. Includes Peter Wild's "Gold Mines," William Kloefkorn's "Stocker," and Dorothy Dalton's "The Moon Rides Witness". All in original wrappers; fine.
The first 2 titles published in Iola, Wisconsin; the third published in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. With original envelope in which these were mailed to Emerson G. Wulling of the Sumac Press with a short ALs (6 lines) from Wolfsong's R. Chris Walla concerning the series.
860. A journal of the year of the ox: a poem by Charles Wright. Iowa City: University of Iowa, The Windhover Press, 1988.
$175
Edition limited to 150 copies signed by the author, folio, pp. [8], 42, [4]; title page printed in blue and black; first page of the poem printed in red and black; fine in original black cloth, paper label on spine. From the library of Kim Merker to whom the book is dedicated.
Berger, Printing and the Mind of Merker, 53: "Charles insisted on dedicating this book to me. I did not want to do it, but he insisted. So I did."
861. Bloodlines. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, [1975].
$150
First edition, wrapper issue, 8vo, pp. 78; fine copy in wrappers. From the library of Kim Merker.
Inscribed on the half-title to Kim Merker: "For Kim, old friend and willing ear, still a cool spot is the Devil's Pocket - Charles Wright, 7 March 1975." This inscription is followed by a small drawing in Wright's hand of a pig."
862. China trace. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, [1977].
$250
First edition, wrapper issue, 8vo, pp. 65, [1]; fine copy in wrappers. From the library of Kim Merker.
Signed by Wright on the title page. Also inscribed on the half-title to Kim Merker: "For Kim, who has one essential thing in common with my mother - you both made my work look better than it is - from your old friend Charles. 4 Nov. 77."
863. Colophons. Iowa City: Windhover Press, [1977].
$150
Edition limited to 200 copies signed by the poet; oblong 8vo, pp. [64]; original terracotta cloth-backed paper-covered boards, printed paper label on spine; fine copy. From the library of Kim Merker.
In 2014, Wright was named Poet Laureate of the United States. "Printed on Barcham Green's Dover paper with 12 pt. Palatino types by Sue Kreutner, Lissa Lunning, Kim Merker, Meghan Merker, Christy Morrill, Mary New, Connie Sayre, and L.J. Yanney" (colophon).
Berger Printing & the Mind of Merker, 68: "Dedication says: 'For Naldfo du Tice, S.J. Master of Tunes.' The name is an anagram for Donald Justice."
864. Dead color. Poems by... With four woodcut illustrations by Leigh McLellan . San Francisco: The Meadow Press for Charles Seluzicki, Fine Books, Salem, Oregon, 1980.
$85
Edition limited to 285 copies on French-folded Mulberry in 7 colors, signed by the author and artist; oblong 8vo, pp. [16]; fine copy in original stiff olive paper wrappers lettered in blind. From the library of Kim Merker.
865. North American bear ... Woodcuts by Gary Young. Sutton Hoo Press, [1999].
$500
Edition limited to "approximately 136 copies," signed by Wright and Gary Young, 8vo, pp. [30]; woodcuts printed in blue throughout, displaying an array of stars, shooting stars, Saturn, etc.; fine copy in original navy blue cloth, printed paper label on spine. Fine copy. From the library of Kim Merker.
"Printed from hand-set Bembo types on dampened Johannot & Somerset papers by C. Mikal Oness and Gary Young with help from Brad Naragon and Betsy Wheeler" (colophon).
866. Sestets. Poems. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, [2010].
$75
First paperback edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 75, [1]; fine copy. From the library of Kim Merker.
This copy inscribed by Wright on the title page: "For Kimber, from this old and boring head. Charles."
In 2014, Wright was named Poet Laureate of the United States.
867. The Venice notebook. [Boston: Barn Dream Press, 1971].
$175
First edition limited to 500 copies, this being one of 100 of which have been signed by the poet (copy no. 57); 8vo, pp. [38]; printed in red and black; fine copy in original pictorial wrappers. Rear cover photograph of Wright by James Tate. From the library of Kim Merker.
Wright won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 and was the 20th Poet Laureate of the United States from 2014-2015.
868. The world of the ten thousand things. Poems 1980 - 1990. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, [1990].
$85
First edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 230, [2]; fine copy in an unclipped dust jacket. From the library of Kim Merker.
This copy inscribed by Wright: "To Kim, dear friend, dear master printer. Charles Wright."
In 2014, Wright was named Poet Laureate of the United States.
869. Xionia. [Iowa City]: Windhover Press, University of Iowa, [1990].
$150
Edition limited to 250 copies signed by the poet; 4to, pp. 38, [4]; original red cloth-backed beige paper-covered boards, printed paper label on spine; fine copy. From the library of Kim Merker.
Berger, Printing and the Mind of Merker, 98.
870. Charges. [New York City]: Remember I Did This for You Books, [1979].
$75
First edition limited to 250 copies, 4to, 11" x 8½", 24 leaves printed from typescript on rectos only; side-stapled pictorial wrappers by Jim Moser; near fine. Published at The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church In-the-Bowery. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
871. Odd weather. Poems. Iowa City: Seamark Press, 1976.
$100
Limited edition of an unspecified number, 8vo, pp. [26]; title page printed in gray and black; fine copy in original taupe cloth stamped in gray and black. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Coffee House Press.
Kay Amert established her own imprint, the Seamark Press, in 1967, while she was still an undergraduate at Iowa. It published its first, somewhat tentative, book in 1969. In all she printed 14 books over a space of 16 years.
Much of the edition was bound in wrappers.
872. The orphan angel. New York: Knopf, 1926..
$50
First edition, first issue, 8vo, pp. vii, [3], 337, [2]; original green cloth; spine a bit discolored, else very good in dust-jacket with woodcut by Leon Underwood, with darkened spine, a few tears and small chips and edges.
Yes, a novel, but concerning Percy Bysshe Shelley, his rescue "from drowning off an Italian cape and travels to America, where he encounters the dangers of the frontier" (Poetry Foundation).
BAL 23508.
873. [Yellow Barn Press.] Situations / sets. [Council Bluffs: Yellow Barn Press, 1983.]
$250
Edition limited to 50 copies (this, no. 25); tall 8vo, pp. [14]; 4 linocuts; original pictorial white wrappers with a large linocut on the front; fine. Printed by Marc Faré at the Yellow Barn Press.
No mention of this in the Yellow Barn Press bibliography. Not found in OCLC. Thanks to technology I tracked Vicky down in California. She confirms the text was part of her graduate thesis in Toronto. "A very poetic approach!" she writes. "The book was a wonderful project with Marc Faré, who wanted practice with the letterpress."
874. [Yellow Barn Press.] Metanoia. Poems by.... Council Bluffs: Yellow Barn Press, 1979.
$600
Printed in a limited edition of an unspecified number but Walsdorf notes the number in the edition is 64; 8vo, pp. 24; title-page portrait by Sue Pospeschil Olson; fine in original maroon cloth, printed paper label on spine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Hand-printed by Neil Shaver at his Yellow Barn Press on a Washington hand-press, text set in Baskerville, and printed on Rives paper.
Walsdorf, A1: "I printed this first book in Harry Duncan's class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha ... At this time I knew nothing about what it took to produce a book" (Neil Shaver).
Only 5 in OCLC: Cal State-Sacramento, LC, Council Bluffs Public Library, Nebraska, and U. Penn.
875. The body's logic. Poems and a woodcut by Gary Young. [La Crosse, Wisconsin]: Sutton Hoo Press, 2000.
$125
Edition limited to "around" 126 copies signed by Young on the colophon; square 12mo, pp. [24]; original black cloth; fine. From the library of Kim Merker.
876. For Steve Royal and other poems. New York: Cooper Union / Coalition of Publishers for Employment, 1985.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. [32]; fine in original pictorial boards. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded the Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
This copy inscribed: "For Allan, a little not-for-sale book that escaped you, I think! Best, Bill 10-28-91 NYC." Laid in is a 5-paragraph typed letter signed to Kornblum from Zavatsky about republishing the poem, For Steve Royal.
877. Theories of rain and other poems. New York: Sun, 1975.
$45
First edition, wrapper issue; 8vo, pp. [8], 3-91, [1]; slight rubbing; near fine in original pictorial wrappers. From the library of Allan Kornblum, poet, fine press printer, and publisher who founded Toothpaste Press and Coffee House Press.
This copy inscribed by Zavatsky: "For Allan & Cinda, I hope some of these 'theories' please you. Best, Bill. II, 12.76."
878. Selected frames from wands. A super 8mm animated poem field. Iowa City: Bird in the Bush Press, 1973.
$125
First edition, narrow folio, 13 leaves printed on rectos only with screen shots of words and letters; side-stapled; edges toned, top corners of first 2 leaves with shallow chips; all else very good. Front cover with permutations of the word "concrete."
Iowa only in OCLC.
879. Nine lives. Iowa City, Iowa: Ocotillo Press, 1975.
$65
Edition limited to 200 copies in Impress and another 40 copies "on another paper," with Bembo types; 12mo, pp. [26]; printed in gray and black; 9-color silkscreen by Brad Harvey on upper wrapper; fine copy.. From the library of Kim Merker.
880. Random. Iowa City: The Seamark Press, 1975.
$50
Printed in a limited edition of an unspecified number; 8vo, pp. [52]; original printed blue wrappers; fine. From the library of Kim Merker.
Printed by Kay Amert (1947-2008), Director of the Typography Laboratory at the University of Iowa, and Howard Zimmon of the Seamark Press. Acknowledgements on the verso of the title page include "K. K. Merker, Leeta Berry, and Gum & Me Too."
Kay established her own imprint, the Seamark Press, in 1967, while she was still an undergraduate at Iowa. It published its first, somewhat tentative, book in 1969. In all she printed 14 books over a space of 16 years.
Kay’s colophons (where they are present at all) are laconic, and the size of the edition is often unstated. In this title there is no colophon whatsoever. Where a number is given, it is usually between 200 and 300 copies. It appears, however, that the number of copies bound was often much smaller than the number printed. In some instances, part of the edition was cased by hand and part was sewn into soft covers – a fact never mentioned in the colophons.
881. Ending the fast. Poems. Council Bluffs, IA: Yellow Barn Press, 1984.
$125
Edition limited to 100 copies (this, no. 91); 8vo, pp.33, [1]; title page printed in green and black; front cover and title-page illustrations by Paul Otero; original green cloth-backed pictorial paper-covered boards, printed paper label on spine; fine. Original prospectus laid in. From the library of Kim Merker.