Tag Archives: little magazines

Semina

>> return to WALLACE BERMAN main page >>

This index lists issues of Semina, the periodical edited by Wallace Berman; contributors are listed alphabetically

1. SEMINA, No. 1, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, 1955
Envelope measuring 4″ x 7.75″ with silver gelatin print of Cameron tipped on to the exterior, contains 8 letterpress and offset printed cards of various dimension, 150 copies.

Contributors include: E. I. Alexander [Robert Alexander], Charles Brittin, Cameron, Peder Carr, Jean Cocteau, Marion Grogan, Herman Hesse, Walter Hopps, David Meltzer.

2. SEMINA, No. 2, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, December 1957
Saddle-stapled in wrappers with offset and letterpress printed image tipped on to the front wrapper, 5.5″ x 8.5″, printed by Stone Brothers Printing [Robert Alexander and Wallace Berman].

Contributors include: John Altoon, Jack Anderson, Charles Baudelaire, Wallace Berman, Charles Brittin, Charles Bukowski, Cameron, Peder Carr, Lewis Carroll, Eric Cashen, Jean Cocteau, Judson Crews, Paul Eluard, Marion Grogan, Hermann Hesse, Walter Hopps, Marcia Jacobs, J.B. [James Boyer] May, Mike McClure, David Meltzer, John Reed, Idell T. Romero [Aya Tarlow], Rabindranath Tagore, Alexander Trocchi, Lynn Trocchi, Paul Valéry, Zack Walsh, Pantale Xantos [Wallace Berman].

3. SEMINA, No. 3, edited by Wallace Berman
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1958
Broadside measuring 6.5″ x 22″ folded and tipped into folder measuring 9″ x 11″ with offset and letterpress printed image tipped on to the front cover, 200 copies.

Contributors include: Mike McClure.

4. SEMINA, No. 4, edited by Wallace Berman
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1959
Folder measuring 8″ x 9.5″ with a half-tone of Shirley Berman tipped on to the front cover, internal letterpress printed pocket contains 23 offset lithograph, lithograph, and letterpress printed cards of various dimensions

Contributors include: I. E. Alexander [Robert Alexander], Wallace Berman, William Blake, Ray Bremser, William S. Burroughs, John Chance, Sou-ma Ch’ien (translation by Charles Guenther), Beverly Collins, Judson Crews, Charles Foster, Allen Ginsberg, Pierre Jean Jouve (translation by Howard Shulman), Robert Kaufman, Philip Lamantia, Ron Loewinsohn, Michael McClure, David Meltzer, Stuart Perkoff, John Reed, Idell T. Romero [Aya Tarlow], Charles Stark, Jules Supervielle (translation by Charles Guenther), John Wieners, Pantale Xantos [Wallace Berman], W.B. Yeats.

From the Colophon: Type handset on beat 5 x 8 Excelsior handpress / cover photo: “Wife” by W. Berman / San Francisco 1959 / Art is Love is God.

5. SEMINA, No. 5, edited by Wallace Berman
Larkspur: Wallace Berman, 1959
Folder measuring 5″ x 7.5″, internal letterpress printed pocket containing 18 offset lithograph and letterpress printed cards of various dimensions, 350 copies. Cover photo by Charles Brittin.

Contributors include: Antonin Artaud, Wallace Berman, John Chance, Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz (translated by Philip Lamantia), Kirby Doyle, John Hoffman, Larry Jordan, Robert Kaufman, Philip Lamantia, Christofer Maclaine, William Margolis, Michael McClure, Anne McKeever, David Meltzer, John Reed, Ruth Weiss, John Wieners, Pantale Xantos [Wallace Berman].

6. SEMINA, No. 6, edited by Wallace Berman
Larkspur: Wallace Berman, 1960
Folder measuring 8″ x 8.5″, internal letterpress printed pocket containing 14 offset lithograph printed cards each measuring 4.75″ x 5.75″, 335 copies. Cover photo by Wallace Berman.

Contributors include: David Meltzer

From the Colophon: The Clown a poem by David Meltzer 335 copies printed / Type handset on a warped 5 x 8 inch Handpress / Cover photo – Wallace Berman / Larkspur Calif. 1960

7. SEMINA, No. 7, edited by Wallace Berman
Larkspur: Wallace Berman, 1961
Folder measuring 5.5″ x 7.75″ with photo tipped on, internal letterpress printed pocket containing 17 offset lithograph and letterpress printed cards of various dimensions, 200 copies. Cover photo by Wallace Berman.

Contributors include: Wallace Berman

From the Colophon: ALEPH/ a gesture involving / photographs drawings & text / by Wallace Berman / 200 copies Larkspur Calif 1961 / for Shirley & Tosh / I love you

8. SEMINA, No. 8, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, 1963
Folder measuring 5.5″ x 7.25″ with photo tipped on, internal letterpress printed pocket containing 14 offset lithograph and letterpress printed cards of various dimensions, circa 200 copies. Cover image created by Dean Stockwell

Contributors include: A.A. [Antonin Artaud], W. [Wallace Berman], Cameron, K.D. [Kirby Doyle], J.K. [Jerry Katz], M.M. [Michael McClure], I.T.R. [Idell T. Romero [Aya Tarlow]], z.w. [Zack Walsh], J.W. [John Wieners].

9. SEMINA, No. 9, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, 1964
Envelope with photo tipped on to the exterior, contains one letterpress printed card, circa 200 copies. Cover image created by Wallace Berman

Contributors include: Michael McClure

 

Note: In 1992 George Herms published a facsimile edition of Semina (Venice: Love Press, 1992) in an edition of 300 numbered copies signed by Herms and laid into a printed chipboard box with numbered and signed colophon. The facsimile re-creation took four years to print and has been assembled in the fashion of the originals: handset letterpress on scraps of colored paper, photos, pastedowns, etc.

Magazine Wars

THE SAN FRANCISCO CAPITALIST BLOODSUCKER-N

mags_capitalist

 

 

Published during the so-called “magazine wars” of the early 1960s, George Stanley’s THE SAN FRANCISCO CAPITALIST BLOODSUCKER-N lasted just one issue. Stan Persky, Lew Ellingham, and Gail Chugg edited M, gathering contributions from a box at  Gino & Carlo’s Bar in San Francisco’s North Beach. Richard Duerden was editing FOOT; with Ron Loewinsohn he was also editing THE RIVOLI REVIEW, produced in Duerden’s apartment on Rivoli Street in the Haight-Ashbury district. Loewinsohn and Richard Brautigan soon produced another magazine, CHANGE.

As Ron Loewinsohn recalled, “Everybody seemed to have access to a mimeograph machine. You could then put out your own magazine. This was marvelous: it meant instant publication, instant reaction from people.”

It wasn’t until 1964, that Stan Persksy’s OPEN SPACE took up the publishing necessary to the Jack Spicer circle and its friends…

further reading…

The San Francisco Capitalist Bloodsucker-N

Published during the so-called “magazine wars” of the early 1960s, George Stanley’s The San Francisco Capitalist Bloodsucker-N lasted just one issue. Stan Persky, Lew Ellingham, and Gail Chugg edited M, gathering contributions from a box at  Gino & Carlo’s Bar in San Francisco’s North Beach. Richard Duerden was editing Foot; with Ron Loewinsohn he was also editing The Rivoli Review, produced in Duerden’s apartment on Rivoli Street in the Haight-Ashbury district. Loewinsohn and Richard Brautigan soon produced another magazine, Change.

As Ron Loewinsohn recalled, “Everybody seemed to have access to a mimeograph machine. You could then put out your own magazine. This was marvelous: it meant instant publication, instant reaction from people.”

It wasn’t until 1964, that Stan Persky’s Open Space took up the publishing necessary to the Jack Spicer circle and its friends…

THE SAN FRANCISCO CAPITALIST BLOODSUCKER-N, edited by George Stanley
San Francisco: Capitalist Bloodsucker-N, 1962
First edition, corner stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 19 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Fran Herndon.

“The San Francisco Capitalist Blooksucker-N, an amalgam of the San Francisco Capitalist-Bloodsucker, a journal of Marxist opinion, and N — the magazine of the future…”

  • Contents:
    1. Albert J. Rutaro – “Mr. President!”
      Richard Duerden – “Mr. Boswell & Dr. Johnson”
      Robin Blaser – “The Private I”
      Larry Fagin – “New York”
      Larry Fagin – “Rooms”
      Kenneth Rexroth – “The Poetry Festival”
      Ron Loewinsohn – [untitled] “The presses tonight…”
      Tony Sherrod – “nobody there – but the afternoon”
      Maxwell Bodenheim – “End and Beginning”
      John Allen Ryan – “The Time of the Snow Flower”
      James Keilty – “Stürmische Promenade”
      Bob Wrobel – “Puny”
      George Stanley – “Terrorism”
      Robert Reinstein – “Robert Reinstein”
      Fran Herndon – untitled illustration
      Jack Spicer – “Three Marxist Essays”
Jack Spicer Circle

COW (the magazine)

Inspired by Stan Persky’s OPEN SPACE, Luther T. Cupp edited COW, which ran for three issues from 1965-1966. Cupp was nicknamed “Link” by Jack Spicer and went by the name Link Martin.

mags_cow01

 

Contributors to this short-lived North Beach magazine include:  Lawrence (Larry) Fagin, Stan Persky, Robin Blaser, George Stanley, Harold Dull, Joanne Kyger, Jack Spicer, Ronnie Primack, and others.
(further reading…)

Cow

Inspired by Stan Persky’s OPEN SPACE, Luther T. Cupp edited COW, which ran for three issues from 1965-1966. Cupp was nicknamed “Link” by Jack Spicer and went by the name Link Martin.

1. COW, The San Francisco Magazine of Livestock, No. 1, Cow Soup Issue, edited by Luther T. Cupp
mags_cow01San Francisco: Cow, 1965
First edition, side stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 11 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Doug Palmer – “Song To: Mr Tambourine Man”
      Deneen Brown – [untitled] “Perhaps it’s a…”
      Lawrence Fagin – [untitled] “So you want to go to space…”
      Stan Persky – “Detective Poem”
      Robin Blaser – “Here, 7/25/65”
      J. Mac Innis – “If Any”
      George Stanley – “Towns”
      Harold Dull – “for Jack”
      Joanne Kyger – “from The Thoughtful Apparitions”
      Jack Spicer – “Dear Sister Mary”
      Ronnie Primack – “Drowning Pool, for Alice”
      Link – “A False Poem of the Renaissance”

2. COW, The Magazine of Afro-Judeo Culture, No. 2, The Un-escalation Issue, edited by Luther T. Cupp
mags_cow02San Francisco: Cow, 1965
First edition, side stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 11 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Jim Thurber – [untitled] “The moon and I…”
      Jim Thurber – [untitled] “The moon is a trick…”
      Robin Blaser – “A Gift (homage to Creeley)”
      Robin Blaser – “Image Nation 1”
      Stan Persky – “Folk Poem”
      Bill Brodecky – “Flower of Evil”
      Mike Hannon – “Thoughts on a Winter Moon”
      Larry Fagin – “Space Poems”
      Geoff Brown – “Poem to Myself”
      Michael Ratcliffe – “for L.F.”
      Joanne Kyger – [untitled] “I didn’t want to think…”
      Jamie MacInnis – “What Cruel Words Do/ a translation”
      Jamie MacInnis – “Lafayette Park”
      Luis Garcia – “The Argument”
      Luis Garcia – “With a Spoon”
      Luis Garcia – “The Couple”
      J.C. Alexander – “Dear Van Gogh”
      Gail Dusenbery – “Girl against Truck”
      Hune Voelcker – [untitled] “Yet when Rim came…”
      George Stanley – [untitled] “The knotted ropes…”
      Gail Dusenbery – “Peanuts? No. Words.”
      Gail Dusenbery – “Cold Lake Snapshot”

3. COW, No. 3, Pregnant Cow Issue, edited by Luter T. Cupp
mags_cow03San Francisco: Cow, 1966
First edition, side stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 11 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Bill Deemer and Andrew Hoyem – “The Auto-Biography of L__ A__ L__”
      Stephen Mindel – [untitled] “Lost in the jungle…”
      Stephen Mindel – “Thursday Evening, for Bob White”
      Stephen Mindel – [untitled] “the deer crossed the stream…”
      Marga NewComb – “The Fallen Angel”
      Robin Blaser – “The Black Point”
      Michael Ratcliffe – “Tomorrow’s Another Day”
      H.M. Wickenheiser – [untitled] “Tomb-still repose is split…”
      Jim Semark – “Godzilla”
      Helen Adam – “A Tale of Dew Drops Falling”
      Gordon Gatom – “Trans”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “I feel sympathy…”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “A man will question…”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “Take up your words…”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “Just when I think…”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “A flash of metal…”
      Mike Hannon – [untitled] “adrift awake…”
      SMN – [untitled] “celled you are in postpale…”
      SMN – [untitled] “The poem walks…”
      SMN – “Mordant Manners”
      SMN – [untitled] “Still into us comes…”
      Robin Blaser – “El Desdichado”
      Michael Ratcliffe – “The Happy Ending”

Gryphon

Born on January 2, 1922, Richard Rubenstein began his literary career in a local prep school when he won a poetry contest. Associated with the Beat Poets in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rubenstein worked to found and edit several small press poetry journals – Neurotica, first published in spring of 1948; Inferno, in late 1949; and Gryphon, in spring of 1950. In Gryphon he published early works of Robert Creeley and Denise Levertov, as well as the established authors Henry Treece, D.H. Emblem, e.e. cummings, and Cid Corman. He himself published a small chapbook, Beer and Angels, and produced a long manuscript of collected poems which went unpublished. Rubenstein’s health deteriorated because of his long-standing nervous condition and the alcohol he drank to combat it. He died on Yom Kippur in 1958.

1. GRYPHON, No. 1, edited by Richard Rubinstein
San Francisco: Gryphon, Spring 1950

2. GRYPHON, No. 2, edited by Richard Rubinstein
San Francisco: Gryphon, Fall 1950

3. GRYPHON, No. 3, edited by Richard Rubinstein
San Francisco: Gryphon, Spring 1951

Hearse Press

HEARSE, A VEHICLE USED TO CONVEY THE DEAD

Starting with the publication of HEARSE 1 in 1957, E. V. Griffith’s HEARSE PRESS would go on to publish 17 issues of the little magazine, a series of 18 chapbooks including Charles Bukowski’s mags_hearse01first, and COFFIN, a portfolio of broadsides. Among those published by HEARSE PRESS are Richard Brautigan, Charles Bukowski, Judson Crews, Russell Atkins, Mason Jordan Mason, Larry Eigner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Joel Oppenheimer, Paul Blackburn, Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, and many more.

According to Griffith in SHEAF, HEARSE, COFFIN, POETRY NOW: A HISTORY (Hearse Press, 1996):
“In format, HEARSE was a center-stapled booklet 5.5″ x 8.5″ page size; the wire staples which held the propensity for rusting. The Rhino Bristol cover stock ran through several different colors — blue, gray, green, yellow, and (much later) pink — with the name in buk_flowerblack ink. (A few issues varied this by using white cover stock, and a colored ink.) Its appearance owed much to — in fact, almost copied — Larsen’s EXISTARIA.” (more…)

Hearse

>> return to Hearse Press main page >>

HEARSE, A VEHICLE USED TO CONVEY THE DEAD ran for 17 issues and was published by E. V. Griffith’s Hearse Press from 1957 until 1972. According to Griffith in SHEAF, HEARSE, COFFIN, POETRY NOW: A HISTORY (Hearse Press, 1996):

“In format, HEARSE was a center-stapled booklet 5.5″ x 8.5″ page size; the wire staples which held the propensity for rusting. The Rhino Bristol cover stock ran through several different colors — blue, gray, green, yellow, and (much later) pink — with the name in black ink. (A few issues varied this by using white cover stock, and a colored ink.) Its appearance owed much to — in fact, almost copied — Larsen’s EXISTARIA.”

1. HEARSE, No. 1, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse01First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1957
Saddle-stapled  in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 24 pages, 100 copies, offset printed.

Contents: poems by Joel Oppenheimer, Robert Creeley, Raymond Souster, Larry Eigner, Jonathan Williams, Langston Hughes, Louis Dudek, Gil Orlovitz, David Cornel DeJong, Bariss Mills, Judson Crews and 11 other poets; artwork by Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, an excerpt from the autobiography of Dick Stud, and a collage by Mercy Pennis Hyman.

2. HEARSE, No. 2, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse02First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1957
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 24 pages, offset printed.

Contents: poems by Gil Orlovitz, Langston Hughes, Robert Creeley, Charles Bukowski, Joel Oppenheimer, Lloyd Zimpel, Richard Brautigan, Theodore Enslin, John Forbis, Alden A. Nolan, Raymond Souster and 16 other poets; artwork by E. V. Griffith, and Henry Miller, and a short story by Harold Witt.

3. HEARSE, No. 3, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse03First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1958
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 32 pages, offset printed.

Contents: poems by Kenneth Rexroth, Langston Hughes, Alden A. Nolan, Gil Orlovitz, Judson Crews, David Cornel DeJong, Carol Ely Harper, Mason Jordan Mason, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Souster, Clarence Major, and 5 other poets; artwork by Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin, and Ben Tibbs, and a short story by R. T. Taylor.

4. HEARSE, No. 4, edited by E. V. Griffith
First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1958
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, offset printed.

Contents: poems by Russell Atkins, Charles Bukowski, Maxine Cassin, Paul Blackburn, Mortimer Tission, and 10 other poets; artwork by E. V. Griffith, and Farley Gay, and a short story by Mary Graham Lund.

5. HEARSE, No. 5, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse05First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1959
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 20 pages, offset printed.

Contents: poems by Allen Ginsburg, Paul Blackburn, Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, Joel Oppenheimer, David Cornel DeJong, Frederick Eckman, Alden A. Nolan, Walter Lowenfels, and 8 other poets; artwork by E. V. Griffith.

6. HEARSE, No. 6, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse06First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1960
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 20 pages, offset printed.

Contents: poems by George Scarborough, Felix Stefanie, Russell Atkins, Gil Orlovitz, Jon Barkley Hart, Maxine Cassin, Judson Crews, and 5 other poets; artwork by E. V. Griffith, and Bob Brown, a short story by Clarence Major, and a excerpt from the autobiography of Raven Lunatick.

7. HEARSE, No. 7, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse07First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1960
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by David Cornel DeJong, Langston Hughes, Charles Bukowski, Raymond Souster, Patricia Hooper, Larry Eigner, Gil Orlovitz, Jack Anderson, Diane DiPrima, Judson Crews, and 8 other poets, and a short story by Mary Graham Lund.

8. HEARSE, No. 8, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse08First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1961
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Charles Bukowski, Jonathan Williams, Gil Orlovitz, Frederick Eckman, Maxine Cassin, Russell Atkins, and 11 other poets, and a short story by Irving Halperin.

9. HEARSE, No. 9, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse09First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1961
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Paul Blackburn, Richard Brautigan, Gil Orlovitz, Robert S. Ward, George Scarborough, and 4 other poets.

10. HEARSE, No. 10, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse10First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1969
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 32 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Winfield Towny Scott, Charles Bukowski, Marge Piercy, Harold Witt, William Childress, Maxine Cassin, Dave Etter, Theodore Enslin, Carroll Arnett, and 9 other poets.

11. HEARSE, No. 11, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse11First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1969
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 48 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by William Childress, Robert Bly, Charles Bukowski, Hayden Carruth, Kathleen Fraser, Larry Eigner, Lyn Lifshin, Harold Witt, Vern Rutsala, Robert Mezey, Gerg Kuzma, Thomas Mayer, Nancy, Willard, George Hitchcock, Keith Wilson, Rochelle OWents, Dave Etter, Carroll Arnett, Peter Wild, Terry Stokes, and 12 other poets.

12. HEARSE, No. 12, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse12First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1970
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 44 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Diane Wakowski, Robert Mezey, John Haines, Dave Etter, Charles Simic, William Childress, Charles Wright, Michael Benedikt, William Matthews, David Ingatow, Harold Witt, Rochelle Owens, David Antin, Robert Gershon, and 17 other poets.

13. HEARSE, No. 13, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse13First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1970
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 52 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Marge Piercy, Charles Simic, Marvin Applewhite, Jack Anderson, Michael Benedikt, Howard McCord, Dave Etter, Nancy Willard, Lewis Warsh, Gerard Malanga, Harold Bond, Keith Wilson, Morton Marcus, John Gill, and 11 other poets.

14. HEARSE, No. 14, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse14First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1970
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 52 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by James Schevill, Philip Levine, Nancy Willard, Marvin Bell, Larry Eigner, Stephen Sandy, James Welch, Charles Bukowski, Robert Peters, William Childress, Marge Piercy, Harold Witt, James Tate, Adrien Stoutenburg, Peter Wild, Carolyn Stoloff, Terry Stokes, Harley Elliott, and 20 other poets.

15. HEARSE, No. 15, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse15First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1971
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 64 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Hayden Caruth, William Matthews, Marge Piercy, Charles Bukowski, John Woods, Herbert Scott, Gary Gilder, William Childress, Greg Kuzma, Theodore Enslin, Albert Goldbarth, Jack Anderson, Peter Wild, Michael G. Culross, H.L. Van Brunt, Lyn Lifshin, Norman Dubie, and 30 other poets.

16. HEARSE, No. 16, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse16First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1971
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 64 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Harold Witt, Daniel Hoffman, Philip Booth, Ted Kooser, David Wagoner, William Matthews, David Ingatow, Robert Mezey, Larry Levis, Paul Zimmer, Dave Etter, Carolyn Stoloff, Lyn Lifshin, Charles Edward Eaton, Ernest Kroll, David Hilton, Sonya Dorman, Robert Hershson, Terry Stokes, and 28 other poets.

17. HEARSE, No. 17, edited by E. V. Griffith
mags_hearse17First edition:
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1972
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 88 pages, letterpress printed.

Contents: poems by Charles Bukowski, Harold Norse, X.J. Kennedy, Robert Mezey, James Schevill, Charles Wright, John Woods, William Childress, Russell Edson, Peter Everyone, Colette Inez, Douglas Blazek, Thomas Lux, William Witherup, Robert Hershon, Peter Wild, Lyn Lifshin, Geof Hewitt, Dave Kelly, Stephen Dunn, William Hathaway, Adrien Stoutenburg, and 39 other poets.

Hearse Press

mags_hearse01

 

 

Starting with the publication of HEARSE 1 in 1957, E. V. Griffith’s HEARSE PRESS would go on to publish 17 issues of the little magazine, a series of 18 chapbooks including Charles Bukowski’s first, and COFFIN, a portfolio of broadsides. Among those published by HEARSE PRESS are Richard Brautigan, Charles Bukowski, Judson Crews, Russell Atkins, Mason Jordan Mason, Larry Eigner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Joel Oppenheimer, Paul Blackburn, Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, and many more.

Hearse Press Checklist:

Section A: Hearse, A Vehicle Used to Convey the Dead
Section B: Hearse Press Chapbooks
Section C: Coffin

References Consulted:

E.V. Griffith. SHEAF, HEARSE, COFFIN, POETRY NOW: A HISTORY
Eureka: Hearse Press, 1996

Judson Crews

crews_buk

Judson Crews, poet, editor, publisher, and book dealer, was born June 30, 1917, in Waco, Texas. Crews received both the B.A. (1941) and M.A. (1944) in Sociology from Baylor University, and during 1946-1947 studied fine arts at Baylor. In addition, Crews did graduate study at the University of Texas, El Paso in 1967. He has worked as an educator at Wharton County Junior College, New Mexico (1967-1970), the University of New Mexico, Gallup Branch (1971-1972), and at the University of Zambia (1974-1978). He has also been involved in social work. After two years in the U. S. Army Medical Corps during World War II, Crews moved his family and business, Motive Press, from Waco, Texas, to Taos, New Mexico, where he began his writing and publishing career in earnest.

Judson Crews was a prominent figure in the Southwest poetry scene as a poet, editor, and publisher of contemporary poetry and art magazines. Crews admittedly wrote under numerous pseudonyms. Of these pseudonyms, Willard Emory Betis, Trumbull Drachler, Cerise Farallon (Mrs. Trumbull Drachler, maiden name Lena Johnston), and Tobi Macadams have been clearly identified. In the instance of these, and possibly many other pseudonymous names, Crews created a fantasy world of writers to encompass, perhaps, the breadth of his literary ambitions.

Crews’ publishing activities began in earnest after his move from Texas to the Taos area. He started the Este Es Press in 1946, which remained in operation until 1966. The little magazines with which he was involved from 1940 to 1966 include The Deer and Dachshund, The Flying Fish, Motive, The Naked Ear, Poetry Taos, Suck-Egg Mule: A Recalcitrant Beast, Taos: A Deluxe Magazine of the Arts, and Vers Libre. Together with Scott Greer, he was co-editor of Crescendo: A Laboratory for Young America, and worked with Jay Waite on Gale. Crews published not only his own chapbooks and magazines but also those of his friends and colleagues, including the Zambian poet Mason Jordan Mason, among others. In conjunction with this printing activity, Crews operated the Motive Book Shop which became a focal point for the dissemination and advocacy of avant-garde poetry, important little magazines and literary reviews, as well as so-called pornographic materials. The material that Crews sold ranged from literary classics such as the works of D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller, to hard-to-obtain domestic and foreign avant-garde journals, and nudist magazines. Crews was also a friend as well as an advocate of Henry Miller and continued to sell Miller’s works after they were banned in the United States.

Judson Crews Checklist:

Section A: Books
Section B: Contributions to Books and Anthologies
Section C: Contributions to Periodicals
Section D: Books Edited and Published
Section E: Periodicals Edited and Published [Naked Ear]

A Select and limited sampling…

Mason Jordan Mason
THE YARDARM OF MURPHEY’S KITE
crews_theyardarmRanches of Taos: Motive Press, 1956
First edition, 4to., [48] pp. Introduction by Chris Bjerknes, “Mason Jordan Mason: An Appreciation”. White, plastic comb binding with decorated board covers. Photographs cut from magazines on both sides of covers, with title and author name letterpress printed in blue on front. Additional magazine images throughout. The images appear to come from nudist, girly, travel, and other magazines. Each copy presumably is unique. [Some have suggested that Mason Jordan Mason is a pseudonym for Judson Crews who admitedly used several pseudonyms. See biographical sketch.] 

Judson Crews, editor 
POETRY TAOS, Number One.
crews_poetrytaosRanches of Taos: n.p., 1957
First edition, 4to., [64] pp. White, plastic comb binding with decorated board covers. Photographs cut from magazines on both sides of covers, with title and author name letterpress printed in blue on front. Numerous similar leaves in text. The images appear to come from nudist, girly, travel, and other magazines. Each copy presumably is unique. Introduction by Judson Crews. Contributors include: Wolcott Ely, Gaston Criell, William Carlos Williams, Mason Jordan Mason, Robert Creeley, Robert Burdette, Max Fenstein, Hyacinthe Hill, Joseph Foster, Cerise Farallon, Judson Crews, Donn Cantonwine, Murry Moore, Wendell B. Anderson. 

Further research and reading:

Biographical information

References consulted:

Anderson, Wendell. THE HEART’S PRECISION (Carson: Dumont Press, 1994)

Taylor, Kent  and Alan Horvath.  LOOKING FOR D.A. LEVY (RANDOM SIGHTINGS): THE D.A. LEVY BIBLIOGRAPHY, Volume 1 and 2 (Kirpan Press, 2006, 2008)

THE WORMWOOD REVIEW, Issue No. 19 (Storrs: Wormwood Review Press, 1965)