Tag Archives: John Wieners

Dave Haselwood Books

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Section D:
This index collects books and other items printed by Dave Haselwood from 1965 to 1970.

1. McClure, Michael. UNTO CAESAR
First edition:
(San Francisco): (Dave Haselwood), (1965)
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 24 pages, circa 60 copies. (Haselwood 1)

2. Hoyem, Andrew. THE MUSIC ROOM
First edition:
San Francisco: Haselwood, 1965
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 16 pages, circa 100 copies. Illustrated by Bruce Conner. (Haselwood 2)

3. Wieners, John. CHINOISERIE
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1965
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 20 pages, circa 100 copies. (Haselwood 3)

4. Wieners, John. THE HOTEL WENTLEY POEMS
Second edition revised:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1965
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 8.5″, 28 pages. Illustration by Robert La Vigne. These are the “original versions” of the poems. (Haselwood 4)

5. McClure, Michael. DREAM TABLE
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1965
30 double-sided printed cards, 2.5″ x 3.5″, 200 sets (30 signed). Each card is printed with a Lion and a Tree ornament on one side and two words on the other. (Haselwood 5)

6. Williams, Jonathan. PAEAN TO DVORAK, DEEMER & McCLURE
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 32 pages, circa 100 copies. (Haselwood 6)

7. Johnson, Ronald. ASSORTED JUNGLES: ROUSSEAU
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 32 pages, circa 100 copies. (Haselwood 7)

8. Hoyem, Andrew. CHIMERAS
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.5″, 28 pages. (Haselwood 8)

9. Plymell, Charles. APOCALYPSE ROSE
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 52 pages. Introduction by Allen Ginsberg. (Haselwood 9)

10. McClure, Michael. LOBE KEY STILLED LIONMAN LACED WINGED APRIL RAPHAEL DANCE WIRY
First edition:
(San Francisco): (Dave Haselwood), (1966)
24 cards in printed envelope, 2″ x 2″, envelope measures 4.5 x 5.75″. Each card is printed with four words one side and a “hallucinogram” on the other. Illustrated by Bruce Conner. (Haselwood 10)

11. McClure, Michael and Bruce Conner. MANDALAS
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 10″ x 10″, 32 pages, 1200 copies. Illustrated by Bruce Conner. (Haselwood 11)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

12. Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. AFTER THE CRIES OF THE BIRDS
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood: 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 6″ x 8″, 16 pages. (Haselwood 12)

13. Whalen, Philip. T/O
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1967
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″, 32 pages, circa 80 copies. (Haselwood 13)

14. Burroughs, William S. and Brion Gysin. THE EXTERMINATOR
First edition, second printing:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1967
Perfect-bound in illustrated and printed wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 51 pages, 1000 copies. (Haselwood 14)

15. McClure, Michael. DARK BROWN
First edition, second printing:
Perfect-bound in illustrated and printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″. (Haselwood 15)

16. Brown, Geoffrey. TENDING BAR AT THE FILLMORE AUDITORIUM ON ARTISTS’ LIBERATION FRONT BENEFIT NIGHT
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood Books, 1967
Folded broadside, 8.6″ x 10.75″.

17. Welch, Lew. COURSES
First edition:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood, 1968
Hand-sewn in printed suede wrappers, 6.5″ x 4.25″, 28 pages, 50 copies. (Haselwood 16)

18. McClure, Michael. THE SERMONS OF JEAN HARLOW & THE CURSES OF BILLY THE KID
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation with Dave Haselwood Books, 1968
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 6″ x 9.25″, 24 pages, 1200 copies. (Haselwood 17)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation with Dave Haselwood Books, 1968
Hardcover in printed paper-covered boards, 6″ x 9.25″, 24 pages, 50 copies signed. (Haselwood 17)

19. Ginsberg, Allen. INDIAN JOURNALS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: City Lights Books with Dave Haselwood Books, 1970
Perfect bound in illustrated and printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 212 pages. (Haselwood 18)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: City Lights Books with Dave Haselwood Books, 1970
Hardcover in cloth-covered boards in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 212 pages. (Haselwood 18)

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Auerhahn Press: Books & Pamphlets

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Section A:
This index collects Auerhahn Press publications from 1958 through 1965: from Dave Haselwood’s first publishing venture through the dissolution of his partnership with Andrew Hoyem and the end of Auerhahn Press.

1. Wieners, John. THE HOTEL WENTLEY POEMS
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1958
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 7.75″, 20 pages, circa 500 copies. Printed (and edited without prior notice to Dave Haselwood) by East West Printers. Cover photo by Jerry Burchard. Illustration by Robert La Vigne. (Auerhahn 1)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

2. Wieners, John. THE HOTEL WENTLEY POEMS
Second revised edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 7.75″, 20 pages, 500 copies. Cover photo by Jerry Burchard. Illustration by Robert La Vigne. (Auerhahn 2)

Note: this edition has the original text restored.

3. Lamantia, Philip. EKSTASIS
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1959
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 5.75″ x 7″48 pages, circa 950 copies. Titling by Robert La Vigne. (Auerhahn 3)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

4. McClure, Michael. HYMNS TO ST. GERYON…
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1959
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 7.25″ x 10″, 62 pages, 950 copies. Cover illustration by McClure. (Auerhahn 4)

5. Lamantia, Philip and Antonin Artaud. NARCOTICA
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, 750 copies. Cover photographs by Wallace Berman. Published as “Auerhahn Pamphlet No. 1”. (Auerhahn 5)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

6. Whalen, Philip. MEMOIRS OF AN INTERGLACIAL AGE
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 8.75″ x 11.25″, 64 pages, (1250 copies). Cover illustration by Robert La Vigne. (Auerhahn 6)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Hardcover in printed paper-covered boards with leather spine, 8.75″ x 11.25″, 64 pages, 60 copies with 25 signed and another 15 signed with holograph poem and illustration, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. Cover illustration by Robert La Vigne. (Auerhahn 6)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

7. Welch, Lew. WOBBLY ROCK
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 6″ x 8″, 12 pages, 500 copies, illustrated by Robert LaVigne. (Auerhahn 7)

Note: Dedication: “for Gary Snyder / ‘I think I’ll be the Buddha of this place’ / and sat himself / down”

8. Burroughs, William S. and Brion Gysin. THE EXTERMINATOR
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 64 pages, (1000 copies). Illustrated by Brion Gysin. (Auerhahn 8)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

9. Marshall, Edward. HELLAN, HELLAN
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 8.75″, 24 pages, (750 copies). Illustrated by Robert Ronnie Branaman. (Auerhahn 10)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

10. McClure, Michael. DARK BROWN
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1961
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6″x 9″, 56 pages, 725 copies. (Auerhahn 13)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1961
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 6″ x 9″, 56 pages, 25 numbered and signed copies, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. (Auerhahn 13)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

11. Olson, Charles. MAXIMUS FROM DOGTOWN
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1961
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 9″ x 11.25″, 12 pages, 500 copies. Foreword by Michael McClure. (Auerhahn 14)

12. Reps, Paul. GOLD FISH SIGNATURES
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1961
Japanese binding, 8.5″ x 11″, 84 pages, (1000 copies). (Auerhahn 15)

b. First edition, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1961
Japanese binding, 8.5″ x 11″, 84 pages, (50 copies in slipcase), signed. (Auerhahn 15)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

13. THE AUERHAHN PRESS CATALOGUE
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 4″x 5″, 16 pages includes poems by Wieners and Meltzer.
(Auerhahn 17)

14. Lamantia, Philip. DESTROYED WORKS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 7″ x 8.75″, 48 pages, 1250 copies. (Auerhahn 18)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 7″ x 8.75″, 48 pages, 50 numbered and signed copies, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. (Auerhahn 18)

15. Meltzer, David. WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY…
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 12 pages, 750 copies. Published as “Auerhahn Pamphlet No. 2”. (Auerhahn 19)

16. Williams, Jonathan. IN ENGLAND’S GREEN &
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 9.25″, 20 pages, 750 copies. Illustrated by Philip Van Aver.
(Auerhahn 20)

17. Spicer, Jack. THE HEADS OF THE TOWN UP TO THE AETHER
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 4.75″ x 6.75″, 109 pages, 750 copies. Illustrated by Fran Herndon. (Auerhahn 21)

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

Note: Printed announcement issued.

18. Hoyem, Andrew. THE WAKE
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1963
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6″ x 8.5″, 30 pages, 750 copies. (Auerhahn 22)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1963
Hardcover in paper-covered boards and leather spine, 6″ x 9″, 30 pages, 35 copies signed, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. (Auerhahn 22)

Note: Three printed announcements issued.

19. di Prima, Diane. THE NEW HANDBOOK OF HEAVEN
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1963
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 5.25″ x 7.5″, 48 pages, 1000 copies. (Auerhahn 23)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1963
Hardcover in printed paper-covered boards with cloth spine, 6″ x 9″, 30 pages, 30 copies signed, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. (Auerhahn 23)

20. Brother Antoninus. THE POET IS DEAD
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1964
Hardcover in paper-covered boards with leather spine with paper label in plain paper dust jacket, 8.25″ x 10.5″, 28 pages, 205 copies signed. Bound by Jane Grabhorn and Sally Hoyem. (Auerhahn 24)

Note: Printed announcement issued.

21. Deemer, Bill. POEMS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1964
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 20 pages, 500 copies. Introduction by Andrew Hoyem. (Auerhahn 37)

b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1964
Hardcover in printed paper-covered boards with leather spine, 6.5″ x 9.25″, 20 pages, 25 copies signed, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. Introduction by Andrew Hoyem. (Auerhahn 37)

Printed announcement issued.

22. Davis, William. JANUS
First edition:
San Francisco: The Auerhahn Society, Spring 1965
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6.5″ x 9.75″, 64 pages, 750 copies. (Auerhahn 38)

23. Van Buskirk, Alden. LAMI
First edition:
San Francisco: The Auerhahn Society, 1965
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 7.75″ x 9.75″, 91 pages, 1000 copies. (Auerhahn 39)

24. Olson, Charles. HUMAN UNIVERSE AND OTHER ESSAYS
First edition:
San Francisco: The Auerhahn Society, 1965
Hardcover in silk-screened cloth-covered boards with leather spine, 7.75″ x 11″, 160 pages, 250 copies, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. Cover art by Robert La Vigne. Author photo by Kenneth Irby. Edited by Donald Allen. (Auerhahn 40)

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Fuck You/ a magazine of the arts

Fuck You/ a magazine of the arts ran for thirteen issues from 1962 to 1965. Considered one of the most influential underground magazines of the early sixties, Ed Sanders’ Fuck You was a deliberately fyp provocative mimeographed journal, at first emphasizing poetry and later expanding to include other writing. Each issue is illustrated with line drawings by Sanders.

Contributors include Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg, Carol Bergé, John Wieners, Andy Warhol, Ray Bremser, Lenore Kandel, Charles Olson, Joel Oppenheimer, Peter Orlovsky, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, Julian Beck, Frank O’Hara, Leroi Jones, Diane Di Prima, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Robert Kelly, Judith Malina, Carl Solomon, Gregory Corso, Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley, Michael McClure, Ted Berrigan, Joe Brainard, Gilbert Sorrentino, and many others — a virtual “who’s who” of avant garde poetry in the Sixties.

1. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 1, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: February 1962

2. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 2, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: April 1962

3. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 3, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: June 1962

4. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 4, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: August 1962

5. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 5, Vol. 1, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: December 1962
First edition, side-stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, mimeograph. Cover by Ed Sanders.

Note: “Dedicated to pacifism, national defense thru nonviolent resistance, total assault on the culture, vaginal zapping, multilateral indiscriminate apertural conjugation, Hole Cons, Crotch Lake, Peace Eye, mad bands of stompers for peace, & all those groped by J. Edgar Hoover in the silent halls of congress.”

6. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 5, Vol. 2, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: December 1962

7. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Number 5, Volume 3, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: May 1963

Note: “Dedicated to pacifism, National Defense thru Nonviolent Resistance, Anarchia the Goddess, Orlovsky’s long Egyptian finger, Peace Eye, Hole Cons, Peace Walk Dicking, dope thrill Banana rites, Acapulco Gold, Panamanian Red, Honduras Brown, windowbox freak grass, the anarcho-commio-greaser conspiracy, submarine boarders, mad bands of stompers for Peace, and all those groped by J. Edgar Hoover in the silent halls of Congress”.

8. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Number 5, Volume 4, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: Summer 1963

9. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Number 5, Volume 5, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: December 1963

10. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Number 5, Volume 6, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: April/May 1963

11. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Number 5, Volume 7, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: September 1964

12. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Volume 5, Number 8, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: March 1965
Cover artwork by Andy Warhol.

13. FUCK YOU/ A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, Volume 5, Number 9
New York: June 1965

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[n.b. notes have not been made about archive inclusion of items]

Online Resources:

· Reality Studio – Fuck You Press Archive

Measure

“The three simple, almost starkly working-class issues of Measure followed glorious and overlooked “underground” poet John Wieners from Black Mountain College home to Boston, across country to San Francisco, and back to Boston again. In his years in San Francisco, from 1958 to 1960, Wieners attended (sometimes serving as host at his Scott Street apartment) the legendary Sunday afternoon poetry workshops of the charismatic poets Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer. Also present at the workshops were George Stanley, Harold Dull, Robin Blaser (The Pacific Nation), and many others…”
— from A Secret Location on the Lower East Side (Granary Books, 1998)

Measure, No. 1, edited by John Wieners
Boston: Measure, Summer 1957
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 48 pages, letterpress printed at the Press of Villiers Publications..

“Measure is edited by John Wieners. It will be issued with the four seasons only through your support… Please understand that the opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the city.”

Contributors:
Tom Balas – “Le Fou”
Charles Olson – “Le Bonheur!”, “The Charge”, “Spring”
Edward Marshall – “One:”, “Two:”
Robin Blaser – “Poem”, “Letters to Freud”, “Poem by the Charles River”
Edward Dorn – “The Rick of Green Wood”
Larry Eigner – “Millionem”, “Brink”
Frank O’Hara – “section 9 from Second Avenue”
Fielding Dawson – “Two Drawings”
Stephen Jonas – “Word on Measure”, “Expanded Word on Measure”
Michael Rumaker – “Father”
Gavin Douglas – “The Blanket”
Jack Spicer – “Song for Bird and Myself”
Jonathan Williams – “Two Poems for Whitman, the Husbandman”
Robert Duncan – “The Propositions”

Measure, No. 2, edited by John Wieners
San Francisco: Measure, Winter 1958
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 64 pages, letterpress printed at the Press of Villiers Publications.

“Magick is for the ones who ball, i.e. throw across”

Contributors:
Michael Rumaker – “The use of the Unconscious”
Robin Blaser – “The Hunger of Sound”
Robert Creeley – “Juggler’s Thot”
Michael Rumaker – “8 Dreams”
Jack Kerouac – “4 Choruses”
Charles Olson – “Descensus Spiritus No. 1”
Robert Duncan – “The Maiden”
Robert Creeley – “They Say”, “She Went to Say”
Jack Kerouac – “235th Chorus”
Edward Dorn – “Notes from the Fields”
Robert Duncan – “The Dance”
Stuart Z. Perkoff – “Feats of Death, Feasts of Love”
V. R. Lang – “The Recidivists”
Gregory Corso – “Yaaaah”
James Broughton – “Feathers or Lead”
Michael McClure – “The Magazine Cover”, “One & Two”
Robert Creeley – “The Tunnel”, “Just Friends”
Richard Duerden – “Musica No. 3”
Stephen Jonas – “Books 3 & 4 from a Long Poem”

Measure, No. 3, edited by John Wieners
Milton: Measure, Winter 1962
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 36 pages, letterpress printed at the Press of Villiers Publications.

“THE CITY / 1 AM – Unreasonable fear, of the shadows of Harry Lime, of the dead reappearing”

Contributors:
James Schuyler – “Shed Market”, “Joint”
Gerrit Lansing – “Explorers”
Barbara Guest – “Safe Flights”, [untitled] “Once when he was a small boy…”, “Abruptly, as if a Forest Might Say”
Helen Adam – “Anaid si Taerg (Great is Diana)”
Madeline Gleason – “Wind Said, Marry”
Robert Duncan – “What do I Know of the Old Lore?”
Jack Spicer – “Central Park West”
Larry Eigner – “Poem”
Tom Field – [untitled] “Form is never more than the extension…”
Edward Marshall – “Times Square”, “2”, “3”
John Wieners – “The Imperatrice”
Philip Lamantia – “Opus Magnum”
Sheri Martinelli – “Ruth Gildenberg”
Michael Rumaker – “The River at Night”
Charles Olson – “The Year is a Great Circle…”, The Post Virginal”, [untitled] “Desartes, age 34…”
John Haines – “Poem”, “Pawnee Dust”

Auerhahn Press

While stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany during the 1950s, David Haselwood conceived the idea of becoming a publisher. At the time he was corresponding with his friend Michael McClure (also a native of Wichita, Kansas) who was living in San Francisco. McClure’s first book of poems, Passage (1956), was being published by Jonathan Williams’ Jargon Press. “Jonathan was having books printed in Germany because of the high quality and low cost,” Haselwood says, “and I began looking into things.”

When Haselwood was released from the Army, he came to live in San Francisco. According to Haselwood, “During the summer of 1958 I drifted around San Francisco talking endlessly with painters such as Robert LaVigne and Jesse Sharpe and poets [Philip] Lamantia, [Michael] McClure, [John] Wieners, and reading all the live poetry and prose I could get my hands on. It was at this time that it occurred to me that the press could mean a great many things … ” From this intense exposure to the active literary scene in the Bay Area grew the desire to see these writers published without the great delays imposed by larger printing establishments.

Auerhahn Press Checklist:

Section A: Auerhahn Press: Books & Pamphlets 1958-1965
Section B: Auerhahn Press: Broadsides 1959-1965
Section C: Auerhahn Press: Commissioned Publications 1961-1965
Section D: Dave Haselwood Books 1965-1969

A short while later in 1958 appeared the first publication of the Auerhahn Press, John Wieners’s The Hotel Wentley Poems. After this initial experience, in which the actual printing was done by a commercial printer (and edited by the printer without Haselwood’s knowledge), Haselwood was convinced that he should not only design all future books himself, but also print them: “The first and final consideration in printing poetry is the poetry itself. If the poems are great they create their own space, the publisher is just a midwife during the final operation…” With this ideal in mind, Haselwood tackled the publication of Philip Lamantia’s Ekstasis, and went on to the printing of Michael McClure’s Hymns to St. Geryon.

Though its limited financial resources were drained by this last publication, the press continued its publication of controversial and avant-garde works, such as Lamantia’s pamphlet Narcotica.

Haselwood took on a partner, Andrew Hoyem, in 1961. By then, a number of Kansans had arrived in San Francisco — including Robert Branaman, who shared living quarters with Haselwood for a time, and Glenn Todd, who later worked as a pressman and editor at Arion Press, which Hoyem founded after an amicable dissolution of his Auerhahn interests in 1964. Todd remembers the partners at work at 1334 Franklin Street: “The Auerhahn was a small press in a small room. Andrew would be setting type, and Dave running the press, passing single sheets of paper through. They’d be in their blue printer’s aprons.” Branaman adds, “Dave looked like someone out of Dickens to me. His shop was a center for artists. It was a well-known center of the culture.”

Another of San Francisco’s cultural hot-spots was the Batman Gallery, first owned by William Jahrmarkt, a.k.a. Billy Batman, whose art interests leaned to the visionary, the experimental and the mystical. According to Jack Foley in O Her Blackness Sparkles! The Life and Times of the Batman Art Gallery, 1960-65 (1995), the opening of the gallery was a “spectacular affair” and featured 99 pieces of Bruce Conner’s work. Auerhahn produced the announcement. In 1962, the gallery was sold to Michael Agron, a psychiatrist and University of California Medical Center associate professor who researched LSD as a therapeutic tool. Collaborating with Haselwood, Agron conceived of each exhibition’s announcement as a work of art. The first Agron show, Master-Bat, showcased the works of, among others, Conner and Branaman.

As the Beat scene faded with the ascent of Hippie culture, Haselwood continued to collaborate with artists on Dave Haselwood Books projects. He worked for a time at Arion Press and designed books for other presses, but his interest in publishing had waned by the close of the ’60s. It was time, he says, to choose another path.

References consulted:

Clay, Steven and Rodney Phillips. A SECRET LOCATION ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE: Adventures in Writing, 1960-1980
New York: New York Public Library / Granary Books, 1998

Clements, Marshall. A CATALOG OF WORKS BY MICHAEL MCCLURE, 1956-1965
New York: The Phoenix Book Shop, 1965

Johnston, Alastair. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AUERHAHN PRESS & ITS SUCCESSOR DAVE HASELWOOD BOOKS
Berkeley: Poltroon Press, 1976

Lepper, Gary M. A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO SEVENTY-FIVE MODERN AMERICAN AUTHORS
Berkeley: Serendipity Books, 1976

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verdant press

Tag Archives: John Wieners

Dave Haselwood Books

Auerhahn Press: Books & Pamphlets

Fuck You/ a magazine of the arts

Measure

Auerhahn Press

a random walk through the open field…