Tag Archives: Jess Collins

The Spicer Circle’s J

Cover of Jack Spicer’s J, No. 4. San Francisco 1959

Jack Spicer’s J ran for eight issues: Nos. 1–5 were edited by Spicer in North Beach where contributions were left in a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar on Grant Avenue in San Francisco; Nos. 6 and 7 (an Apparition of the late J) were edited by George Stanley in San Francisco and New York City respectively while no. 8 was edited by Harold Dull in Rome. Spicer believed that poetry was for poets and the magazine had a small circulation but cast a long shadow.

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Jack Spicer – Books

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Section A:
This index collects books, chapbooks, and pamphlets


1. Spicer, Jack. AFTER LORCA
spicer_lorcaa. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 76 pages, 474 copies, multilith printed by Joe Dunn. Jack Spicer’s first book of poetry. Cover illustration by Jess Collins. Introduction by Federico Garcia Lorca.
(Johnston A2)

b. First edition, lettered and signed copies: 
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 76 pages, 26 copies lettered and signed with a drawing by the author, multilith printed by Joe Dunn. Jack Spicer’s first book of poetry. Cover illustration by Jess Collins. Introduction by Federico Garcia Lorca.
(Johnston A2)

c. First edition, second issue:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Unbound (but collated and folded) without wrappers issued in mailing envelope at a later date.
(Johnston A2)

d. First UK edition:
London: Aloes Books, 1969

e. Second edition:
n.p.: Marco Polio, 1974

2. Spicer, Jack. HOMAGE TO CREELEY 
spicer_homageFirst edition:
Annapolis: Harold and Dore Dull, Summer 1959
Side-stapled in printed covers, 8.5″ x 11″, 33 pages, 100 copies, spirit-mimeo printed. Incorporated into A4.


3. Spicer, Jack. BILLY THE KID
spicer_billya. First edition, first state:
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, October 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, 750 copies, offset printed.  Illustrations by Jess Collins.

b. First edition, second state:
The second state includes holograph corrections to text on page 8; holograph addition of ‘Face’ at end of section VI.

c. Second edition:
Dublin: New Writers’ Press, 1969

d. Third edition
n.p.: Oyster Press, March 1975

4. Spicer, Jack. THE HEADS IF THE TOWN UP TO THE AETHER
spicer_headsa. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Perfect-bound in illustrated  and printed wrappers, 4.75″ x 6.75″, 109 pages, 750 copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood. Illustrated by Fran Herndon.
(Auerhahn 21)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 4.75″ x 7.25″, 109 pages, 50 copies signed by the author and artist, with an original drawing by Spicer, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. Illustrated by Fran Herndon.
(Auerhahn 21)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

5. Spicer, Jack. LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS
spicer_lamenta. First edition:
Oakland: White Rabbit Press, 1962
Hand-sewn in illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8″, 16 pages, 100 copies, offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A11)

Note: According to Johnston, “Back of title page has a fictitious acknowledgments list (by Graham Mackintosh) taken from Robert Duncan’s The Opening of the Field.”

b. First UK edition:
London: Aloes, 1971

6. Spicer, Jack. THE HOLY GRAIL
spicer_holya. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964
Saddle-stapled and glued into illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 80 pages, offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A19)

b. First edition, hardcover copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964
Hardcover, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 80 pages, 13 copies signed (4 were reportedly destroyed during signing), offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A19)

spicer_holy2c. Second, Pirated edition:
Berkeley: Jolly Roger Press, February 1969
Side-stapled printed and illustrated sheets, 8.5″ x 11″, 20 pages, 500 copies. Published anonymously by Richard Krech and John Oliver Simon at the Undermine Press.

Pirate’s Note: “I only heard Jack Spicer read once, at the the Berkeley poetry conference in july 65. an hour after he read THE HOLY GRAIL, the last copy was gone from the avenue bookstores… this free pirate edition is distributed to make the poem available to those who need it.”

d. Third edition:
Watertown: Augtwofive, 1970





e. Fourth edition:
Portland: Timeworn (Poor Claudia at Revolution Publishing), 2014

7. Spicer, Jack. LANGUAGE
spicer_languagea. First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, June 1965
Perfect-bound illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 72 pages, 950 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A30)

Note: Most of these poems first appeared in OPEN SPACE.

b. First edition, second printing:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1970
Perfect-bound illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 72 pages, 950 copies, offset printed from the first edition. Text added to the colophon: “Second printing 1970”.
(Johnston A54)

8. Spicer, Jack. BOOK OF MAGAZINE VERSE
spicer_magazinea. First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1966
Perfect-bound printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 7.75″, 56 pages, 1500 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh. Prepared for publication from the original manuscript by Stan Persky. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A33)

According to Johnston, “The cover is a parody of the cover of Poetry (Chicago). The poems are arranged in groups intended for various little magazines and newspapers, each section printed on a stock appropriate to that publication, so that for example, the poems for Tish are on blue mimeo paper, those for the St. Louis Sporting News on newsprint.”

b. First edition, second printing
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1970
Perfect-bound printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 7.75″, 56 pages, 1500 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh. Prepared for publication from the original manuscript by Stan Persky. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A33)

9. Spicer, Jack. A BOOK OF MUSIC
spicer_musica. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit, 1969
Saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 20 pages, 1800 copies designed and printed by Ron and Graham Mackintosh from a typescript made available by Peter Howard. The cover was one decided upon by the author. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A48)

b. First edition, variant copies:
Variant copies include additional printed text on the front leaf: “150 copies printed Christmas, 1969 / for friends of White Rabbit, Oyez, / and the author”.
(Johnston A48a)

10. Spicer, Jack. THE RED WHEELBARROW
a. First edition, regular copies:
Berkeley: Arif Press, June 1971
Hand-sewn printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 475 copies, letterpress printed. Illustrated by  Wesley Tanner. Printed by Wesley Tanner at Cranium Press.

b. First edition, numbered copies:
Berkeley: Arif Press, June 1971
Hand-sewn printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 25 copies with hand-colored frontispiece, signed by the illustrator, letterpress printed. Illustrated by  Wesley Tanner. Printed by Wesley Tanner at Cranium Press.

Note: Printed announcement issued.

11. Spicer, Jack. SOME THINGS FROM JACK
First edition:
Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1972
Wrappers, 6.5″ x 10.25″, 11 pages, 91 numbered copies, printed letterpress. Introduction by Richard Rummonds. Linocut by Miroslav Zahradka.

12. Spicer, Jack. ADMONITIONS
First edition:
New York: Adventures in Poetry, 1974
Side-stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 44 pages, mimeograph printed.



13. Spicer, Jack. QUARTUS 1: A LOST POEM
First edition:
Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1974
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 9.5″ x 11.5″, 8 pages, 114 numbered copies signed by the artist, letterpress printed. Postscript by Richard-Gabriel Rummonds. Illustrated with two etchings by Ariel Parkinson.

14. Spicer, Jack. FIFTEEN FALSE PROPOSITIONS ABOUT GOD
First edition:
South San Francisco: Manroot, September 1974
Saddle-stapled printed and illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, offset printed.

Note: This poem first appeared in Beatitude, No. 3 (San Francisco, May 1959)

15. Spicer, Jack. THE COLLECTED BOOKS OF JACK SPICER
a. First edition, paperback copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Perfect-bound printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.75″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 1000 copies. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.

b. First edition, hardcover copies: 
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Hardcover in acetate dust jacket, 6.5″ x 9″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 1000 copies. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.

c. First edition, hardcover, numbered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Hardcover in acetate dust jacket and slipcase, 6.5″ x 9″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 100 copies, numbered and signed by Robin Blaser. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.

16. Spicer, Jack. ONE NIGHT STAND & OTHER POEMS
First edition:
San Francisco: Grey Fox Press, 1980
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards without dust jacket as issued, 98 pages. Edited by Donald Allen. Preface by Robert Duncan.

17. Spicer, Jack. COLLECTED POEMS, 1945-46
First edition:
Berkeley: Oyez/White Rabbit Press, 1981
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 7″ x 9″, 32 pages, lithographed from the author’s typescript.


18. Spicer, Jack. THE TOWER OF BABEL
First edition:
Hoboken, N.J: Talisman House, 1994
Perfect-bound photo-illustrated wrappers, 170 pages. Chapter one of Jack Spicer’s Detective Novel, edited by Ed Foster and Kevin Killian.

Described by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian as “a satiric look at the private world of poetry gone public in the wake of the Six Gallery HOWL reading of October, 1955.”

19. Spicer, Jack. TRAIN OF THOUGHT
First edition:
Gran Canaria: Zasterle Press, 1994
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 62 pages, 300 numbered copies. Edited with an introduction by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian.
Chapter three of Jack Spicer’s unpublished detective novel

20. Spicer, Jack. MAP POEMS
First edition:
Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press, 2005
Thirty-five copies printed: bound in brown paper wrappers. Introduction by Kevin Killian and Peter Gizzi

Robert Duncan

Described by Kenneth Rexroth as “one of the most accomplished, one of the most influential” of the postwar American poets, Robert Duncan was an important part of both the Black Mountain school of poetry, led by Charles Olson, and the San Francisco Renaissance, whose other members included poets Jack Spicer and Robin Blaser. A distinctive voice in American poetry, Duncan’s idiosyncratic poetics drew on myth, occultism, religion—including the theosophical tradition in which he was raised—and innovative writing practices such as projective verse and composition by field.

further reading…

Robert Duncan: Books & Broadsides

>> return to ROBERT DUNCAN main page >>

Section A:
Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides, Separate Publications

A1. HEAVENLY CITY, EARTHLY CITY
Berkeley: Bern Porter, 1947
(Bertholf A1)

A2. POEMS, 1948-49
Berkeley: Berkeley Miscellany Editions, 1949
(Bertholf A2)

A3. MEDIEVAL SCENES
San Francisco: Centaur Press, 1950
(Bertholf A3)

A4. FRAGMENTS OF A DISORDERED DEVOTION
a. First edition, privately published:
San Francisco: privately printed, Fall 1952
Hand-sewn in printed and hand-colored covers in ink and crayons, 6″ x 8.25″, 28 pages, 50 numbered and signed copies, multilith printed. Text is reproduced from the author’s holograph. (Bertholf A4a)

b. Second edition, first issue:
San Francisco: Gnomon Press, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8″, 24 pages, 70 copies distributed but withdrawn from sale due to the cover being rejected by Duncan. Cover by Anton Van Dalen. Produced jointly by Victor Coleman’s Island Press in Toronto and Jonathan Greene’s Gnomon Press in San Francisco. (Bertholf A4b)

c. Second edition, second issue:
San Francisco: Gnomon Press, 1966
(Bertholf A4c)

A5. THE SONG OF THE BORDER-GUARD
First edition:
Black Mountain Graphics Workshop, 1952.
Folio broadside measuring 12.5″ x 19.5″ tipped into illustrated wrappers, 200 copies, letterpress printed by Nicola Cernovich and Joel Oppenheimer. Cover art by Cy Twombly. (Bertholf A5)

A6. BOOB, Nos. 1 & 2
First edition, privately published:
(San Francisco): privately published, (1952)
Set of broadsides measuring 11″ x 8.25, 250 copies. (Bertholf A6)







A7. FAUST FOUTU
a. First edition, privately published:
San Francisco: Privately published, 1953
Corner-stapled sheets, 8.5″ x 11″, 70 pages, 100 copies, mimeograph printed. (Bertholf A7a)



b. Second edition, abbreviated copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, March 1958
Hand-sewn in printed wrappesrs, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 17 pages, 300 copies. (Bertholf A7b)



c. Third edition, regular copies
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, November 1959
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 72 pages, 700 copies. Cover art by Robert Duncan. (Bertholf A7c)

d. Third edition, signed and illustrated copies
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, November 1959
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 72 pages, 50 illustrated and signed copies. Cover art by Robert Duncan. (Bertholf A7d)

A8. CAESAR’S GATE
a. First edition, regular copies:
Palma de Mallorca: Divers Press, 1955
(Bertholf A8a)

b. First edition, numbered copies:
Mallorca: Divers Press, 1955
(Bertholf A8b)

c. First edition, lettered copies:
Mallorca: Divers Press, 1955
(Bertholf A8c)

d. Second edition, first hardbound impression:
Sand Dollar, 1972.
(Bertholf A8d)

e. Second edition, first paperbound impression:
Sand Dollar, 1972.
(Bertholf A8e)

f. Second edition, second paperbound impression:
Sand Dollar, 1972.
(Bertholf A8f)

A9. LETTERS
a. First edition, paperbound copies:
Highlands: Jonathan Williams, 1958
(Bertholf A9a)

b. First edition, hardbound copies, first state:
Highlands: Jonathan Williams, 1958
(Bertholf A9b)

c. First edition, hardbound copies, second state:
Highlands: Jonathan Williams, 1958
(Bertholf A9c)

d. First edition, hardbound, decorated copies:
Highlands: Jonathan Williams, 1958
(Bertholf A9d)

A10. SELECTED POEMS
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1959
(Bertholf A10)

A11. THE OPENING OF THE FIELD
New York: Grove, 1960
(Bertholf A11)

A12. AS TESTIMONY
San Francisco: White Rabbit ,1964
(Bertholf A12)

A13. WRITING WRITING
Albuquerque: Sumbooks, 1964
(Bertholf A13)





A14. ROOTS AND BRANCHES
New York: Scribner’s, 1964
(Bertholf A14)

A15. WINE
Berkeley: Oyez, 1964
(Bertholf A15)

A16. MEDEA AT KOLCHIS / THE MAIDEN HEAD
Berkeley: Oyez, 1965
(Bertholf A16)

A17. THE SWEETNESS AND GREATNESS OF DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY
San Francisco: Open Space, 1965
(Bertholf A17) (Johnston A32)

A18. UPRISING
Berkeley: Oyez, 1965
(Bertholf A18)

A19. OF THE WAR: PASSAGES 22-27
Berkeley: Oyez, 1966
(Bertholf A19)

A20. THE YEARS AS CATCHES: FIRST POEMS, 1939-46
Berkeley: Oyez, 1966.
(Bertholf A20)

Foot

Poet Richard Duerden was born in Utah and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He joined the Merchant Marines and the Marine Corps and was educated at the University of California.

A member of the San Francisco Renaissance poetry movement, Duerden founded the literary journals Foot and the Rivoli Review. His books of poetry include The Fork (1965), The Left Hand & The Glory of Her (1967), and The Air’s Nearly Perfect Elasticity (1979). His poetry was anthologized in The New American Poetry, 1945–1960 (1960, edited by Donald Allen). A selection of his manuscripts and correspondence is archived in the Stanford University Libraries and a smaller selection of his correspondence with poet Philip Whalen is archived at the Reed College Library.


Foot, No.1, edited by Richard Duerdan
mags_foot01San Francisco, September 1959
First edition, hand-sewn illustrated wrappers, 6.75″ x 8.5″, 56 pages. Cover illustration by Robert Duncan.

Contributors: Ebbe Borregaard, Richard Brautigan, Jess Collins, Richard Duerden, Robert Duncan, Larry Eigner, Eloise Nixon, Philip Whalen, Gary Snyder.

Foot, No. 2, edited by Richard Duerden and William Brown
mags_foot02San Francisco, 1962
First edition, saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 6.75″ x 8.75″, 80 pages. Illustrations by Philip Roeber and Philip Whalen.

Contributors: Philip Whalen, Philip Roeber, Joanne Snyder, Richard Duerden, Robert Duncan, Jack Spicer, Kenneth Rexroth, William Brown, Lew Welch, Leslie Thompson, Jess Collins, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Suzanne Duerden.

Foot, No. 3, edited by Richard Duerden
mags_foot03San Francisco, Spring 1977
First edition, saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 12 pages. Cover illustration by Robert Duncan.

Contributors: Robert Creeley, Duncan McNaughton, Richard Duerden, John Thorpe, Lawrence Kearney.

Foot, No. 4, edited by Richard Duerden
mags_foot04San Francisco, Summer 1977
First edition, saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.75″, 16 pages. Cover illustration by Terry Bell.

Contributors: Lawrence Kearney, Jerry Ratch, Duncan McNaughton,   Don Cushman, James Koller.

Foot, No. 5, edited by Richard Duerden
mags_foot05San Francisco, Fall 1977
First edition, saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 12 pages. Cover illustration by Leslie Scalapino.

Contributors: Leslie Scalapino, Richard Duerden, Michael Wolfe, Ron Loewinsohn.

Foot, No. 6, edited by Leslie Scalapino and Richard Duerden
mags_foot06Berkeley, 1978
First edition, perfect bound illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 9″, 40 pages. Cover illustration by Diane Sophia.

Contributors: Diane Sophia, Leslie Scalapino, Larry Kearney, John Thorpe, Philip Whalen, Diane Sophia, Don Cushman, Sherril Jaffe, Michael Davidson, Michael Wolfe, Duncan McNaughton, Robert Duncan, Norman Fischer, Bernadette Mayer, Peter Rabbit, Richard Duerden.

Foot, No. 7, edited by Richard Duerden
mags_foot07Berkeley, 1979
First edition, perfect bound illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 5.5″, 40 pages. Cover illustration by Terry Bell.

Contributors: Lawrence Kearney

Foot, No. 8, edited by Leslie Scalapino and Richard Duerden
mags_foot08Berkeley, 1980
First edition, perfect bound illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 9″, 52 pages.

Contributors: Keith Shein, Leslie Scalapino, Diane Sophia, Norma Smith, Sarah Menefee, Don Cushman, Joanne Kyger, Larry Eigner, Bill Berkson, Bob Grenier, Jackie Cantwell, Ted Pearson, Marc Lecard, Lawrence Kearney, Jeanne Lance, Duncan McNaughton, Michael Wolfe, Carla Harryman.

Ebbe Borregaard

Ebbe Borregaard 1970Ebbe Borregaard’s work was published in the first run of White Rabbit Press in 1958 and then by Oyez using the name “Gerard Boar”, the anagrammatic pseudonym of his last name. He also appeared in several periodicals over the years and self-published some poetry and letters.

Along with his wife Joy, Ebbe owned and operated Borregaard’s Museum and Art Gallery. The idea behind establishing the venue in 1960 was to showcase the creative achievement of the Spicer circle. Helen Adam’s play SAN FRANCISCO’S BURNING was performed by Adam and her sister Pat in that first year. The following year the museum hosted a show of Jess’s work as well as a series of lectures by Duncan.

Borregaard also ran Oannes Press, publishing two titles: Helen and Pat Adam’s SAN FRANCISCO’S BURNING and James Alexander’s ETURNATURE, the latter in conjunction with Open Space.

Moving to Bolinas in 1969, Borregaard was later included in ON THE MESA: AN ANTHOLOGY OF BOLINAS WRITING published in 1971 by City Lights.


Section A:
Books and Broadsides

A1. Borregaard, Ebbe. THE WAPITIS
borregaard_wapitisFirst edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, January 1958
Hand-sewn illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 12 pages, (200 copies). Ebbe Borregaard’s first book. Cover illustration by Robert Duncan. (Johnston A4)

A2. Borregard, Ebbe. LEANTO: THE JOURNAL EXTRACT FROM THE ORIGINAL BY THE AUTHOR
First edition:
San Francisco: privately published, 1960
Illustrated french-fold wrappers, 125 copies, mimeograph. Illustrated by J. Alexander.

A3. Borregaard, Ebbe. [LETTERS TO SPRACH]
First edition:
Berkeley: privately published, 1963
Side-stapled sheets in unprinted card covers, 7″ x 10″, 58 pages, 20 copies. Preface by Ebbe Borregaard dated Christmas 1963.

Title supplied from Serendipity Books Catalogue 35, item no. 36 which also states that no more than 20 copies were printed.

A4. Borregaard, Ebbe. WHEN DID MORNING WIND RIP CALLOW FLOWERS IN MAY
First edition:
San Francisco: Arts Festival, 1964
Illustrated broadside, 12.5″ x 20″,  300 copies. Illustrated by Jess Collins.

A broadside issued as part of the 1964 San Francisco Arts Festival portfolio: A POETRY FOLIO, which contained 11 broadsides.

A5. Borregaard, Ebbe. CHILDHOOD OF DWARF CHRIST 1

First edition:
Sussex: Collection, 1969
Side-stapled illustrated wrappers, 9 copies, off-print of pages  25-36 from Collection 3 edited by Peter Riley.

A6. Boar, Gerard. SKETCHES FOR 13 SONNETS 
a. First edition, regular copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1969
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 7.75″ x 9.75″, 1600 copies, designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh.

b. First edition, hardcover copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1969
Hardcover, number of copies unknown, designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh.

A7. Borregaard, Ebbe. FRIDAY NIGHT PROVERBS
First edition:
Bolinas, n.d.
Broadside.


Section B:
Contributions to Periodicals and Anthologies

B1. J, No. 1, edited by Jack Spicer
mags_j01San Francisco, 1959
“Ballad for Billy Swan”, “Ballad for SAD”





B2. FOOT, No.1, edited by Richard Duerdan
mags_foot01San Francisco, September 1959






B3. LOCUS SOLUS, No. 1
1961
“Other stories of the beauty wapiti”, “wapiti 3”, “From ‘Sprach'”

B4. M, No. 2, edited by Lew Ellingham
mags_m02San Francisco: M, 1962
“October Seventh Poem”





B5. ANGEL HAIR, No. 3, edited by Lewis Warsh and Anne Waldman
New York: Angel Hair, Summer 1969

B6. COLLECTION, No. 3, edited by Peter Riley
Sussex, January 1969
“Childhood of Dwarf Christ 1”

B7. ANGEL HAIR, No. 6, edited by Lewis Warsh and Anne Waldman
New York: Angel Hair, Spring 1969

B8. EPHEMERIS, No. 2, edited by David Schaff
San Francisco, c. 1969
“Eros in Error”

B9. WRITING, No. 4, edited by Stan Persky and Dennis Wheeler
Vancouver: Georgia Straight, 1970

B10. WRITING, No. 7, edited by Stan Persky and Dennis Wheeler
Vancouver: Georgia Straight, 1971

B11. SESHETA, No. 2, edited by Andi Wachtel and Richard Downing
Surrey: Sesheta Press, Spring 1972

B12. ADVENTURES IN POETRY, No. 11, edited by Larry Fagin
New York: The Poetry Project, Spring 1974
“October Seventh Poem”


References consulted:

Alastair Johnston. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WHITE RABBIT PRESS
Berkeley: Poltroon Press in association with Anacapa Books, 1985

Enkidu Surrogate

spicer_billyannouce
Announcement for Billy the Kid, circa 1959. Collage on paper

 

From Stinson Beach in the late 1950s, Jess Collins and Robert Duncan published just two books under their Enkidu Surrogate imprint.

The books were distributed by White Rabbit Press.

 

 

 

 

 

A1. Spicer, Jack. BILLY THE KID
spicer_billya. First edition, first state:
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, October 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, 750 copies, offset printed.  Illustrations by Jess Collins.

b. First edition, second state:
The second state includes holograph corrections to text on page 8

A2. Duncan, Robert. FAUST FOUTU
duncan_faust03a. First edition, regular copies:
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, November 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 71 pages, 750 copies. Illustrated by Robert Duncan. (Bertholf A7c)

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, November 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.5″, 71 pages, 50 copies numbered and signed with a drawing. Illustrated by Robert Duncan. (Bertholf A7d)

Note: This is the first complete printing of the play, after a privately printed mimeographed first printing in 1953, and a second from White Rabbit Press in 1958. 

J

Jack Spicer’s J ran for eight issues: Nos. 1–5 were edited by Spicer in North Beach where contributions were left in a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar on Grant Avenue in San Francisco; Nos. 6 and 7 (an Apparition of the late J) were edited by George Stanley in San Francisco and New York City respectively while no. 8 was edited by Harold Dull in Rome. Spicer believed that poetry was for poets and the magazine had a small circulation but cast a long shadow. Contributors included: Robin Blaser, Richard Brautigan, Bruce Boyd, Kay Johnson, Robert Duncan, Joe Dunn, Ron Loewinsohn, Joanne Kyger, Helen Adam, and others. Covers (sometimes hand-embellished) were by Fran Herndon (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5), Russell FitzGerald (No. 3), and George Stanley (Nos. 6, 7).


1. J, No. 1, edited by Jack Spicer
mags_j01San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.

  • Contents:
    1. James Alexander – “The Jack Rabbit Poem”
      Ebbe Borregaard – “Ballad for S A D”
      Ebbe Borregaard – “Ballad of Billy Swan”
      Robin Blaser – “Two Astronomers with Notebooks”
      Jack Spicer – “Hokkus”
      Joe Dunn – “Love”
      Richard Brautigan – “The Fever Monument”
      Sam the Tenor Man – “The Radio said Giants Cinch Loop Flag”
      Bois Burk – “Ode to Pierre”
      Bruce Boyd – “After Midnight”
      Roland March – [untitled] “Mister Brustein…”
      Damon Beard – [untitled] “Adverse repercussionless…”
      Kay Johnson – [untitled] “My soul is the absurdity…”
      Kay Johnson – [untitled] “The door in the dream…”
      Robert Duncan – “Dream Data”
      Sagen – “Dear Sprach” [pseuds. Borregaard and Spicer]
      Harvey Harmon – “A Soldier and His Shadow”
      Tony Richards – “Summer”

2. J, No. 2, edited by Jack Spicer 
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 36 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.

  • Contents:
    1. George Stanley – “Tete Rouge”
      Fran Herndon – untitled illustration
      Jess Collins – “I Ups to My Self And”
      Harvey Harmon – [untitled] “More paths…”
      Jack Spicer – [untitled] “Down to new beaches…”
      Robert Duncan – “Dear Carpenter”
      Harvey Harmon – “A New Estate”
      William Morris – “Dear Senior Poet”
      Stan Persky – [untitled] “but it was a moment…”
      Mary Murphy – “In-”
      Will Holther – ” Lament for Otto de Fey”
      Jack Spicer – “Epilog for Jim”
      J.P. Shark – [untitled] “On account of changing tidal conditions…”

3. J, No. 3, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Russell FitzGerald.

  • Contents:
    1. Bruce Boyd – “Introduction”
      Bruce Boyd – “Toward Morning”
      Bruce Boyd – “War”
      R.H. Blyth – “Letters to the Editor”
      Rueban – “Q”
      Mary Murphy – [untitled] “The skull is not the bones…”
      Leo Krikorian – [untitled] “1. No drinking on duty…”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “Entangling Alliances”
      George Stanley – “Tete Rouge (continued)”
      Jack Spicer – [untitled] “The slobby sea where you float…”
      Damon Beard – [untitled] “Even —…”
      Jack Spicer – “Last Hokku”
      JBH [James Herndon?] – [untitled] “I don’t know how many…”

4. J, No. 4, edited by Jack Spicer
mags_j04San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 36 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.

  • Contents:
    1. Robert Duncan – “A Sequence of Poems…”
      Richard Brautigan – “The Pumpkin Tide”
      Richard Brautigan – “The Sidney Greenstreet Blues”
      Richard Brautigan – “Surprise”
      Garln – “Garln to His Friend”
      Joanne Kyger – “Tapestry #3”
      Josef Elias – “Joetry”
      Donald Allen – “for Barbara”
      John Ryan – “Pecadillo”
      Jack Spicer – “Jacob”
      George Stanley – “Tete Rouge (continued)”
      Wallace Allen Healey – “Politics”

5. J, No. 5, edited by Jack Spicer
mags_j05San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 34 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.

  • Contents:
    1. L. Frank Baum – “from Sky Island”
      Larry Eigner – “Front”
      Jess Collins – “The Poets Corner” [comic strip]
      Richard Brautigan – “1942”
      Mary Murphy – [untitled] “Lack of oxygen…”
      D.D. – “Fishing on Saturday”
      Kay Johnson – “The Space is Too Wide”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “WIBC Poems”
      George Stanley – “Tete Rouge (continued)”
      Robert Duncan – “The Song of the River to its Shores”
      Richard Duerden – “Right Now”
      Sheila Roche Harmon – [untitled] “A young devil sat…”
      Jack Spicer – “Fifth Elegy”
      William Berryman – “On the Composition of Bones”
      William R. Allen – “Letter”

6. J, No. 6, edited by George Stanley
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by George Stanley.

  • Contents:
    1. Helen Adam – “Scenes from San Francisco’s Burning”
      Paul Goodman – “I Love You, Necessary–”
      Joanne Kyger – “Pan as the Son of Penelope”
      Lucio Manisco – “Un Misto di Boheme Mistica e Letteraria”
      William A. Berryman – [untitled] “in the after hours…”

7. J, No. 7, edited by George Stanley
New York: J, 1960
Corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 32 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by George Stanley.

All contents are anonymous.

8. J, No. 8, 1961, edited by Harold Dull *
Rome: J, 1961
Contributors: Harold Dull, Stan Persky.

[*not in archive]


online excerpt from A Secret Location on the Lower East Side (Granary Books, 1998):

“In many ways the most beautiful of all the mimeo magazines, J had an eight-issue run. The first five issues were edited from North Beach bars by Jack Spicer with Fran Herndon as art editor. Spicer, who embodied the spirit of poetry in the Bay area, collected pieces for his magazine from a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar at 1546 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. A refugee from Los Angeles with two degrees from Berkeley, he had been a student of Josephine Miles there in the mid-1940s. They became close friends, and Spicer participated in the Friday afternoon poetry readings in Wheeler Hall during the late 1940s as well as the readings organized with Rockefeller money by Ruth Witt-Diamant at the new Poetry Center at San Francisco State. Into the cauldron of poetic politics surrounding Miles, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others, Spicer introduced his freest of spirits, sometimes more Caliban than Ariel. Spicer lived for words (even making his living as a research assistant on a lexicographical project at Berkeley). He could be found most evenings in one of the North Beach bars or coffeehouses leading the discussion on poetry, poetics, myth, linguistics, and other mysteries. Like Blake and Yeats (with the help of Mrs. Yeats), Spicer attempted to clear his mind and open himself to “dictation” from other sources, which he devotedly pursued. Spicer also believed wholeheartedly in the necessity of human beings’ helping each other through communication, which he confronted in the editorship of J, a little newsletter of the poetic spirit. Donald Allen acted as J’s distributor in New York (“New York Contributions are not forbidden. But quotaed”), selling copies for Spicer to the Wilentz brothers of the Eighth Street Book Shop. In an early letter to Spicer, Allen eagerly wondered “what your editorial policy may be. Seduction by print.””


Further Reading:

Mimeo Mimeo on J

The Rivoli Review

The Rivoli Review, Vol. Zero, No. One, edited by Richard Duerden 
mags_rivoli01San Francisco: The Rivoli Review 1963

Side-stapled illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 24 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover illustration by Jess Collins.

Contributors:
Ford Madox Ford – “Meary Walker”
Robert Duncan – “Weaving the Design”
James Koller – [untitled] “mottled brown birds…”
Richard Duerden – “Seven: #2 La Martine Place”
Denise Levertov – “Hypocrite Women”
Lynn Lonidier – “Chagall and Bella”
Ron Loewinsohn – “Art for Art’s Sake”, “The Rain, The Rain”
Gerald Gilbert – [untitled] “Sunshine…”
Lorenzo Thomas – “Grass”, “West”
Robert Peterson – “Critical Times”
Ron Loewinsohn – “Fuck You Roger Maris”
Philip Whalen – “Plums, Metaphysics, An Investigation, A Visit and a Short Funeral Ode”
Ron Loewinsohn – “It is to be Bathed in Light”

The Rivoli Review, Vol. Zero, No. Two, edited by Richard Duerden 
mags_rivoli02San Francisco: The Rivoli Review 1964

Side-stapled illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 14″, 30 pages, mimeograph printed.


Contributors:
James Koller – “The People are Coming”
Ron Loewinsohn – “A Place to Go”
Jess Collins – “Song of the Pied Parrot”
Lew Brown – “from Lionel”
Deneen Brown – “Azalea Poem”
George Stanley – “Argus”
Robert Duncan – “Passages III”, “Passages 3-4”
Richard Duerden – “Silence, and Katharsis”
Lew Brown – “The Broadjump”, “from Lionel”
Jack Anderson – “The Scale of It”
Richard Duerden – “The Sonata”
Jack Anderson – “Man in a Doorway”
Gerard Malanga – “Final Sonnet XC”