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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
wieners_wentley1First 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
wieners_wentley2Second 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
lamantia_ekstasisFirst 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…
mcclure_hymnsFirst 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
lamantia_narcoticaFirst 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
whalen_memoirsa. 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
lew_wobblyFirst 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
burroughs_exterminatorFirst 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
marshall_hellanFirst 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
mcclure_darkbrowna. 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
olson_maximusFirst 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
auerhahn_catalogueFirst 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
lamantia_destroyeda. 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…
meltzer_weFirst 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 &
williams_englandsFirst 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
spicer_headsa. 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
hoyem_wakeba. 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
diprima_newa. 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
antoninus_poetFirst 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
deemer_poemsba. 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
davis_janusFirst 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
olson_humanFirst 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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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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