Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was born in Denver, Colorado, he grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, becoming a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s and early 1960s. He moved to Canada in 1966, joining the faculty of Simon Fraser University; after taking early retirement in the 1980s, he held the position of Professor Emeritus.
Blaser is also well known as the editor of The Collected Books of Jack Spicer, which includes Blaser’s essay, The Practice of Outside. The 1993 publication The Holy Forest represents his collected poems to that date.
In 2006, Blaser received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annual Griffin Poetry Prize. Blaser won the Prize itself in 2008.
Section A: Books and Broadsides
A1. APPARITORS
First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press 1963
Broadside, 13″ x 20″, 300 copies, signed by the author and artist. Illustration by Fran Herndon.
Note: Issued as part of the 17th Annual San Francisco Arts Festival: A Poetry Folio 1963, which contained 8 broadsides in a paper folio.
A2. Blaser, Robin. THE MOTH POEM
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Open Space, December 1964
Side-stapled and glued into printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 32 pages, 288 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A21)
b. First edition, hand-colored copies:
San Francisco: Open Space, December 1964
Side-stapled and glued into printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 32 pages, 12 copies with hand-colored end papers by the author, letterpress by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A21)
c. Second edition:
San Francisco: Open Space, December 1964
Side-stapled and glued into printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 32 pages, 288 copies, offset printed in letterpress wrappers by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A23)
A3. LES CHIMERES
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Open Space, 1965
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 32 pages, 500 copies, letterpress printed.
(Johnston A27)
b. First edition, hardcover copies:
San Francisco: Open Space, 1965
Hardcover in printed dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 32 pages, 26 lettered and signed copies, letterpress printed.
(Johnston A27)
A5. CUPS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1968
Stapled printed wrappers, 24 pages, 1000 copies, letterpress printed. Published as Writing 17.
b. First edition, hardcover copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1968
Hardcover, 24 pages, 40 numbered and signed copies, letterpress printed. Published as Writing 17.
A6. IMAGE NATIONS 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror
London: Ferry Press, 1974
A7. Image Nations 13 & 14
North Vancouver: Cobblestone Press, 1975
A8. Harp Trees
Vancouver: Sun Stone House & Cobblestone Press, 1977
A9. Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse
Vancouver: W. Hoffer, 1981
A10. Syntax
Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1983
A11. The Faerie Queene and The Park
Vancouver: Fissure Books, 1987
A12. Pell Mell
Toronto: Coach House Press, 1988
A13. The Holy Forest
Toronto: Coach House Press, 1993
A14. Nomad
Vancouver: Slug Press, 1995
A15. Wanders, with Meredith Quartermain
Vancouver: Nomados, 2002
References consulted:
Alastair Johnston. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WHITE RABBIT PRESS
Berkeley: Poltroon Press in association with Anacapa Books, 1985