Tag Archives: Wallace Berman

The Floating Bear

THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 24, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones (New York, September-October 1962)

The subtitle “A Newsletter” is the key to The Floating Bear’s chief contribution to literature of the 1960’s; it was a newsletter, a speedy line of communication between experimental poets. Diane di Prima, in the introduction to the reprint edition of Floating Bear, recalls Charles Olson’s tribute to the magazine: “The last time I saw Charles Olson in Gloucester, one of the things he talked about was how valuable the Bear had been to him in its early years because of the fact that he could get new work out that fast. He was very involved in speed, in communication. We got manuscripts from him pretty regularly in the early days of the Bear, and we’d usually get them into the very next issue. That meant that his work, his thoughts, would be in the hands of a few hundred writers within two or three weeks. It was like writing a letter to a bunch of friends.”

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William S. Burroughs – Books, Pamphlets, and Broadsides

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SECTION A:
This index includes books, pamphlets, and broadsides (excluding foreign language translations, interviews and some miscellaneous prose) from 1957 to 1973: roughly the period of time covered by the Maynard and Miles Bibliography (ref. M&M).


1. Lee, William. JUNKIE
a. First edition:
New York: Ace Books Inc., 1953
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 4.25” x 6.5”, 320 pages, bound back to back with Maurice Helbrant’s Narcotic Agent. Publisher’s note by Carl Solomon (not credited).
(M&M A1a) *

William Burroughs’ first book, written under the pseudonym ‘William Lee’ (his mother’s maiden name).

According to Beatbooks catalog #92: Ace Books was owned by Carl Solomon’s uncle, A.A. Wyn, a connection made by Allen Ginsberg who was acting as Burroughs’s agent at the time. The publication of Nelson Algren’s novel The Man With The Golden Arm in 1949 inspired a trend for books about junkies, many of them mass-market paperbacks sold in newsagents rather than bookshops, and with commercial success in mind Wyn agreed to publish Burroughs. Though written in a noir-ish hard-boiled style, Junkie is autobiographical (the “Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict”), and lacks the kind of plot that readers of the genre attracted by Al Rossi’s lurid cover art might have expected.

Burroughs’s picaresque and frequently humorous narrative, with its hip talk and junkie jargon, is also told from the detached point of view of the hipster-addict, a neutrality which Wyn sought to counter-balance by yoking it to a reprint of Helbrant’s 1941 account of his “War Against the Dope Menace”. Burroughs was initially appalled at this appendage, but his motivation for writing Junkie was, as he later wrote, money and recognition, though neither were forthcoming at first as the book was largely ignored at the time of publication. More significantly, by mixing an orthodox narrative of drug experiences with occasional forays into set-pieces, or routines, Junkie also paved the way for Naked Lunch.

b. First UK edition:
London: Digit Books, 1957
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 4.5” x 7.25”, 160 pages.
(M&M A1b) *

According to Beatbooks catalog #92: First UK edition, and the first edition of Junkie as a separate item. Front cover art by Al Rossi, based on his earlier artwork for Ace Books. His sensational back cover art depicts a blonde with hypo and rolled-down stocking, and it was probably this, at least in part, that provoked the British censors to suppress the book after publication and order all the remaining copies to be pulped.

2. Burroughs, William. LETTER FROM A MASTER ADDICT TO DANGEROUS DRUGS
a. First edition:
Shrewsbury: British Journal of Addiction, 1957
Side-stapled sheets, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 13 pages,  50 copies.
(see M&M C1) *

An offprint of the Burroughs article appearing in the January 1957 issue of British Journal of Addiction (Vol. 53, No. 2) edited by John Yerbury Dent (M&M C1). This is Burroughs’ first appearance in print under his own name.

3. Burroughs, William S. THE NAKED LUNCH
a. First edition:
Paris: Olympia Press, July 1959
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 4.5″ x 7″, 232 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Burroughs. Issued as No. 76 in the Traveller’s Companion Series. Preliminary issue with price on lower wrapper not canceled with over-stamp.
(M&M A2a)

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: Price on lower wrapper not canceled (copies distributed following the revaluation of the Franc in January 1960 had the printed price stamped over).

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, 1962
Hardcover in paper and cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8″, 256 pages, 3500 copies. Printed prospectus issued.
(M&M A2b)

The contents of this edition differ from the Olympia first edition. This Grove Press edition includes as the Introduction, “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness” [first published in Evergreen Review, Vol. 4, No. 11 (January-February 1960) (M&M C12)] and, as the Appendix,“Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs” [first published in The British Journal of Addiction, Vol. 53, No. 2 (January 1957) (M&M C1)].

According to BeatBooks catalog #20, publication of this edition triggered obscenity trials in Los Angeles and Boston.

4. Burroughs, William S. EXCERPT FROM PANTAPON ROSE
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1959
Broadside, 4″ x 5″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman.
(see M&M C11)

This broadside is laid into Semina, No. 4, edited by Wallace Berman (M&M C11).

5. Burroughs, William and Brion Gysin. THE EXTERMINATOR
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Sewn signatures bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 64 pages, 1000 copies, letterpress printed, designed and printed by Dave L. Haselwood and James F. McIlroy. Illustrated by Brion Gysin. Printed announcement issued.
(M&M A4a)

The first collection of cut-ups, containing material that Burroughs and Gysin completed before Minutes To Go was published.

b. First edition, second printing:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood Books, 1967
Sewn signatures bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 51 pages, 1000 copies. Illustrated by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A4b)

6. Burroughs, William, Sinclair Beiles, Gregory Corso, and Brion Gysin. MINUTES TO GO
a. First edition:
Paris: Two Cities Editions, April 1960
Sewn signatures bound in illustrated wrappers, 5.25″ x 8.25″, 64 pages, 1000 copies. Cover design by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A3a)

This is the second collection of cut-ups to be published.

b. First US edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts & Documents, 1968
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.25″ x 8.5″, 66 pages, 1000 copies, distributed by City Lights Books.
(M&M A3b)

This edition is a facsimile of the first edition but for the addition of a Claude Pelieu collage.

7. Burroughs, William. THE SOFT MACHINE
a. First edition:
Paris: The Olympia Press, June 1961
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 4.25″ x 7″, 184 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A5a) *

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, 1966
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with silver-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8″, 184 pages, 18,000 copies. Cover art by Burroughs. Author photo by Charles Henri Ford.
(M&M A5b) *

According to Beat Books catalog #48: Burroughs completely rewrote the text for this edition, partly as a response to criticisms that the first edition had been difficult to read.

According to Am Here catalog #3: This constitutes the revised expanded edition advertised but never published by Olympia.

8. Burroughs, William. THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED
a. First edition:
Paris: Olympia Press, December 1962
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and photo-illustrated dust jacket, 4.25″ x 6.75″, 184 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Ian Sommerville. Illustrated by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A6a)

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, June 1967
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with black-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 218 pages, 10,000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Kuhlman Associates. Author photo by Martha Rocher.
(M&M A6b) *

The Grove Press edition is a second version, a rearrangement of the first Olympia text with additions and expansions, plus “The Invisible Generation”, a piece incorporating two earlier articles from International Times (see M&M C157 and C162).

9. Burroughs, William. DEAD FINGERS TALK
a. First edition:
London: John Calder in association with Olympia Press, November 1963
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 220 pages, 4000 copies. Cover photos by Ian Sommerville.
(M&M A7a)

Contains sections from The Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine, and The Ticket That Exploded along with some previously unpublished material.

10. Burroughs, William. and Allen Ginsberg. THE YAGE LETTERS
a. First edition:
San Francisco: City Lights Books, November 1963
Sewn signatures bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 7.25″, 68 pages, 3000 copies, letterpress printed at Villiers Publications.
(M&M A8a) *

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: An “early epistolary novel” by Burroughs, “detailing picaresque incidents of search for telepathic-hallucinogenic-mind-expanding drug Yage” (back cover blurb). The letters date from 1953 and record Burroughs’ journeys through the Amazon jungle. Includes two drawings by Allen Ginsberg and his letters to Burroughs from 1960.

11. Burroughs, William S. ROOSEVELT AFTER INAUGURATION
a. First edition:
New York: Fuck You Press, January 1964
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 4.25″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 500 copies, mimeograph printed by Ed Sanders. Illustrated by Allen Ginsberg.
(M&M A9a)

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: The routine, created by Burroughs and Kells Elvins while students at Harvard and originally intended for inclusion in “The Yage Letters”, was censored by the English printers, and subsequently printed in Floating Bear No. 9 (M&M C33), resulting in its editor LeRoi Jones being jailed.

12. Burroughs, William. THE COLDSPRING NEWS
a. First edition:
Flint: Fenian Head Centre Press, March 1964
Broadside,7.25″ x 12.5″.
(see M&M C124)

This broadside also appears folded and bound into The Spero, Vol. 1, No. 1 edited by Douglas and Kathy Casement (Fenian Head Centre Press, 1965) with the addition of a copyright notice at the bottom. (M&M C124)

13. Burroughs, William S. PRY YOURSELF LOOSE AND LISTEN
a. First edition:
Tangier: Ira Cohen, Spring 1964
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 8″, 14 pages.
(see M&M C68-C71)

An offprint collecting all the Burroughs appearances in Gnaoua, No. 1, edited by Ira Cohen.

14. Burroughs, William S. NOVA EXPRESS
a. First edition:
New York City: Grove Press, November 1964
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with black-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 190 pages, 10,000 copies, printed at The Book Press. Foreword Note by Burroughs. Cover design by Roy Kuhlman. Author photograph by Martha Rocher.
(M&M A10a)

According to Burroughs’ Foreword Note: The section called “This Horrible Case” was written in collaboration with Mr. Ian Sommerville, a mathematician—Mr. Sommerville also contributed the technical notes in the section called “Chinese Laundry”—An extension of Brion Gysin’ cut-up method which I call the fold-in method has been used in this book which is consequently a composite of many writers living and dead.

15. Burroughs, William. VALENTINE’S DAY READING
a. First edition:
New York: American Theatre for Poets, February 1965
Side-stapled in printed cover sheet, 8.5″ x 11″, 14 pages, mimeograph printed.
(M&M F12)

Includes “Transcript of Dutch Schultz’s Last Words” and the first column from The Coldspring News, “On The Back Porch of his Farm”.

16. Burroughs, William. TIME
a. First edition:
New York: “C” Press, 1965
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 32 pages, 1000 copies (886 in a trade edition; 100 numbered and signed; 10 lettered A-J, hardbound, with original manuscript page by Burroughs and original drawing by Gysin, signed; and four hardcover numbered copies hors commerce). Cover art by Burroughs. Illustrated by Brion Gysin. Edited by Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Joe Brainard.
(M&M A11a)

b. Pirate edition:
London: Urgency Press Rip-Off, May 1972
Top-stapled with printed cover sheet, 8″ x 13″, 32 pages, 45 copies. Edited by Roy Pennington. Published on the occasion of the Bickershaw Festival.
(M&M A11b)

17. Burroughs, William S. WILT CAUGHT IN TIME
a. First edition:
New Orleans: Loujon Press, c.1965
Broadside, 6″ x 9″, letterpress printed by Jon Edgar Webb and Gypsy Lou Webb.
(see M&M C46)

An offprint of the Burroughs contribution to The Outsider, No. 2, edited by Jon Edgar Webb and Gypsy Lou Webb (M&M C46).

According to Jeff Weddle in “The Loujon Press: An Historical Analysis”: Burroughs’ submission for issue two originally bore the title, “Cuts from ‘Word Line’ William Burroughs for Hassan i Sabbah.” The piece was done using Burroughs’ distinctive, jumbled, “cut-up” technique and had no easily discernible narrative flow or quickly grasped meaning. Perhaps for these reasons, Webb heavily edited and re-titled the piece, casting it as a poem in The Outsider number two. Burroughs’ manuscript bears a notation, again in Webb’s hand, stating that the piece was “condensed and rearranged into “wilt caught in time,” the title under which it appeared in the magazine. While Webb’s version of Burroughs’ piece bears little resemblance to the author’s original submission, no record has been uncovered showing Burroughs’ response to Webb’s heavy editing of his work.

18. Burroughs, William S. HEALTH BULLETIN: APO-33
a. First edition:
New York: Fuck You Press, 1965
Side-stapled sheets with printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 54 pages, 10-20 copies, mimeograph printed by Ed Sanders.
(M&M A12a) *

According to Sanders “maybe as many as ten or twenty” copies were distributed before he halted publication due to Burroughs’ dissatisfaction with the copy he’d received.

b. Second edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 24 pages, 3000 copies.
(M&M A12b)

This printing is a photo-offset reproduction of Burroughs’ manuscript and scrapbook pages, featuring the three-column cut-up style, compiled by Mary Beach and Claude Pélieu.

19. Burroughs, William S. THE INVISIBLE GENERATION
a. First edition:
London: Project Sigma, December 1966
Broadside, 11.5″ x 17″, 1000 copies, offset printed.
(see M&M C159)

This item was not given a Sigma index number and no evidence exists to show distribution except by International Times itself which provided the offprints. Reprinted from International Times, No. 3 (November 1966) (M&M C157).

20. Burroughs, William S. THE INVISIBLE GENERATION (continued)
a. First edition:
London: Lovebooks Ltd, December 1966
Broadside, 22.5″ x 30.25″, 200 copies, silk-screened, designed by Michael English so that part of the card could be cut out and assembled to make a word-machine. Published as International Times, No. 5.5.
(see M&M C160) *

21. Burroughs, William S., Claude Pélieu, and Carl Weissner. SO WHO OWNS DEATH TV?
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 5.5″, 12 pages, 3000 copies; there was a variant issue of 200 copies on black paper printed in silver ink.
(M&M A13a)

b. Second edition, expanded:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 5.5″, 20 pages, 3000 copies. This expanded edition includes photo-collages by Jean-Jacques Lebel and Liam O’Gallagher.
(M&M A13b)

22. Burroughs, William S. SCIENTOLOGY REVISITED
a. First edition:
New York: Scientology East, c.1968
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 8 pages.
(not in M&M) *

Reprinted from Mayfair, Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 1968) (M&M C187)

23. Burroughs, William S. THE DEAD STAR
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Nova Broadcast Press, November 1969
Broadside  (8″ x 26.75″), folded and stapled into printed wrappers, 4.74″ x 8″, 2000 copies. Edited by Jan Herman. Published as Nova Broadcast, No. 5
(M&M A14a)

The first US publication of a piece done in Burroughs’ familiar scrapbook, photo-collage 3-column newspaper style, originally published in Jeff Nuttall’s My Own Mag ‘Dutch Schultz’ issue.

24. Burroughs, William S. THE LAST WORDS OF DUTCH SCHULTZ
a. First edition:
London: Cape Goliard Press,  May 1970
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with red-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 6.25″ x 9.75″, 88 pages. Cover art and illustrations by R.B. Kitaj.
(M&M 17a) *

A film-script inspired by the official transcript of the last words of mobster Dutch Schultz, recorded by a police stenographer as he lay dying in hospital.

25. Burroughs, William S. ALI’S SMILE
a. First edition:
Brighton: Unicorn Books, October 1971
Hardcover in buckram-bound boards with gilt-stamped cover, 6.25″ x 8″, 44 pages, 99 copies numbered and signed, printed by Richard Moseley at Graphic Workshop. Issued in a carton which also contains a 12-inch LP record of Burroughs reading the second draft of the text.
(M&M A19a, G6) *

b. First edition, second printing:
Gottingen: Expanded Media Editions, October 1973
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.75″ x 7.5″, 40 pages. Bilingual edition with German text translated by Carl Weissner. Photographs of the author by Udo Breger. Published as Expanded Media Editions, No. 12.
(M&M D28)

26. Burroughs, William S. THE WILD BOYS: A BOOK OF THE DEAD
a. First edition:
New York: Grove Press, 1971
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine and blind-stamped front cover in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 184 pages.
(M&M A20a) *

27. Burroughs, William S. ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION 1970-71
a. First edition:
Cambridge: Blackmoor Head Press, October 1971
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 8″ x 10.25″, 76 pages, 500 copies. Printed for Henri Chopin and his Collection OU by Ian Ormiston at the Blackmoor Head Press. Cover art by Brion Gysin. Text in English and French; French translation by Jean Chopin. Published as Collection OU, No. 2.
(M&M A21a)

28. Burroughs, William S., Brion Gysin, and Ian Sommerville. LET THE MICE IN, edited by Jan Herman
a. First edition:
West Glover, Vt.: Something Else Press, February 1973
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with silver-stamped spine and front cover in printed dust jacket, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 74 pages, 500 copies (plus 1000 copies in wrappers), designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh at Noel Young Press in Santa Barbara.
(M&M A22a-b)

Includes texts and cut-ups by Burroughs (“The Invisible Generation”, “Word Authority More Habit Forming Than Heroin”, and “Parenthetically 7 Hertz”), and Ian Sommerville, plus several sepia photographs of the authors, the Dream Machine, etc.

29. Burroughs, William S. EXTERMINATOR! A NOVEL
a. First edition:
New York: Viking Press, August 1973
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with white-stamped spine and black-stamped front cover in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 170 pages, 7500 copies.
(M&M A23a) *

Note: A collection of short routines and other material, mostly from The Wild Boys.

30. Burroughs, William S. WHITE SUBWAY
a. First edition:
London: Aloes Books, September 1973
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.25″, 74 pages, 1000 copies (25 of which are numbered and signed).
(M&M A24a)

A collection of various pieces, its title taken from a section of The Soft Machine, including cut-up and three-column style texts (“Who Is the 3rd…?”, “The Last Post Danger Ahead”, and “From a Distant Hand Lifted”), originally published in little literary magazines such as Gnaoua, Spero, Underground Telegram, Kulchur, Arcade, Lines, Bulletin from Nothing, and Birmingham Bulletin. Also includes a piece by Alan Ansen, and Paul Bowles’s essay, “Burroughs In Tangier”.

31. Burroughs, William S. MAYFAIR ACADAMY SERIES MORE OR LESS, edited by Roy Pennington
a. First edition:
Brighton: Urgency Press Rip-Off, 1973
Saddle-stapled in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 8.25″, 104 pages, 650 pages. Printed on different colour papers, stapled and trimmed at the press operated by Bill Butler’s partner, Mike Hughes, above the Unicorn bookshop in Brighton.
(M&M A25a)

Note: Reprints ten of the Burroughs ‘Academy Bulletins’ from Mayfair magazine (there were 21 in the series all together), along with other articles he wrote for them, together with an essay on Burroughs “originally presented as an M.A. thesis in Philosophy” by the book’s publisher, Roy Pennington.

[* not in archive]

David Meltzer – Books and Broadsides

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SECTION A:
This index includes books, chapbooks, pamphlets, and broadsides; all contents are poems unless otherwise noted.


1. Meltzer. David. AN UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO SOME LOST RELATIVES
First edition:
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, 1956
Broadside, 3.5″ x  6″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Laid into Semina, No. 1.

Contents: “An Unpublished Letter to Some Lost Relatives” [uncollected]

Note: see also C2.

2. Meltzer, David. POEMS 
First edition:
San Francisco: Donald and Alice Shenker, [1957]
Side-stapled sheets in printed and illustrated wrappers with library tape binding, 5.75″ x 8.75″, 16 pages, 25 copies, offprint of David Meltzer / Donald Shenker book comprising only the Meltzer section. Cover art by Tina Meltzer.

Contents: “Poem”, “Journey”, “Now for instance the Idiot”, “Oration at the Funeral of a Chinese Youth”, “Erratum: A Poem for Idell”, “On a Popular Song for Namiko”, “The Approach to Her Body”, “I Have Taken You out of the Wind’s Sound”, Highsung Song for Baza”, “Prophecy: Requiem Blues”, “Less of a More Greatness fo W. & S. & T. Berman”, “Poem”, “All in Pure Death”, “For Wallace Berman, Poet-Maker”, “Tired of Being Tired”, “Today was so Large to Live in”, “Love Story”

Note: See also B1.

3. Meltzer, David. 24TH RAGA / FOR TINA *
First edition:
New Haven: Penny Poems, 1959
Broadside, 8.5″ x 11″, offset printed. Published as Penny Poems, No. 27

Contents: “24th Raga/ For Tina” [collected in Ragas]

4. Meltzer, David. THE PROPHET
First edition:
New Haven: Penny Poems, 1959
Broadside, 7″ x 10″, offset printed. Published as Penny Poems, No. 54

Contents: “The Prophet” [collected in Ragas]

5. Meltzer, David. FROM: THE CLOWN, BOOK II/ AIR & INTERIM
First edition:
New Haven: Penny Poems, 1959
Broadside, 7″ x 10″, offset printed. Published as Penny Poems, No. 69

Contents: “From: The Clown, Book II/ Air & Interim” [collected in Ragas]

6. Meltzer, David. MORNING POEM
First edition:
New Haven: Penny Poems, 1959
Broadside, 7″ x 10″, offset printed. Published as Penny Poems, No. 83

Contents: “Morning Poem” [uncollected]

7. Meltzer, David. RAGAS 
First edition:
San Francisco: Discovery Books, 1959
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 52 pages, (1500 copies), printed at the Troubador Press. Cover design by Peter LeBlanc.

Contents: “30th/ June:59”, “Vision”, “Mexico”, “2nd Raga: The Woods”, “Revelation”, “from: The Hollywood Poem”, “Love Poem”, “from: Night Before Morning”, “from: The Clown / Book II”, “Two Poems for Joey Loewinsohn…”, “12th Raga / for John Wieners”, “14th Raga / for Donald Schenker”, “15th Raga / for Bela Lugosi”, “23rd Raga / for Tina”, “24th Raga / The Birds”, “The Dance”, “The Mechanikons”, “Poem for Tuolumne’s First & Last Artist Investigator of Truth”, “Home Life of the Gods”, “6th Raga / for Bob Alexander”, The Prophet”, “Ward Poem”, “Filbert Street”, “The Last Word”

8. Meltzer, David. SAMPSON AGONISTES
First edition:
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1959
Broadside, 3.5″ x 5.5″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Laid into Semina, No. 4.

Contents: “Sampson Agonistes” [uncollected]

Note: see also C5.

9. Meltzer, David. TODOS SANTOS. VILLA
First edition:
Larkspur: Wallace Berman, 1959
Broadside, 3.5″ x 5.5″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Laid into Semina, No. 5.

Contents: “Todos Santos. Villa” [uncollected]

Note: see also C10.

10. Meltzer, David. THE CLOWN
First edition:
Larkspur: Semina, 1960
Printed sheets laid into printed folder, 335 copies, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Published as Semina, No. 6.

Contents: “The Clown” [uncollected]

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

Contents: “Patchen” [essay], “Summa”, “A Recognition”, “So good to know…”, “I went to the shore…”

12. Meltzer, David. BAZASCOPE MOTHER
First edition:
Los Angeles: Drekfesser Press, [1964]
Single sheet folded once to make four pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 250 copies (approximately 150 copies were supposedly destroyed). Cover collage by I.E. Alexander, rear photograph by Zack Walsh.

Contents: “BazaScope”

13. Meltzer, David. STATION *
First edition:
San Francisco: San Francisco Arts Festival Commission, 1964
Broadside, 13″ x 20″, 300 copies, printed by East Wind Printers. Illustrated by Peter Bailey. Laid into portfolio entitled A Poetry Folio 1964.

Contents: “Station” [uncollected]

14. Meltzer, David. THE BLACKEST ROSE
First edition:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1964
First edition, broadside, 11″ x 17.5″, 350 copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood. Published as Oyez 6.

Contents: “The Blackest Rose” [uncollected]

15. Meltzer, David. THE PROCESS
a. First edition, regular copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1965
Saddle-stapled illustrated french-fold wrappers, 44 pages, 500 copies, printed by Graham Mackintosh, designed by Dave Haselwood. Cover illustration by  Peter LeBlanc. This is the first Oyez book.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1965
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with illustrated dust jacket, 44 pages, 25 numbered and signed copies, printed by Graham Mackintosh, designed by Dave Haselwood. Cover illustration by  Peter LeBlanc. This is the first Oyez book.

16. Meltzer, David. OYEZ! *
First edition:
[Berkeley]: Oyez Press, [1965]
Single sheet folded once to make four pages, 6″ x 9″, 250 copies. Cover illustration by Meltzer.

Contents: “In Hope I Offer A Fire-wheel”

17. Meltzer, David. THE DARK CONTINENT *
a. First edition,  regular copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1967
Perfect-bound in illustrated and printed wrappers, 94 pages, 1000 copies, printed by Graham Mackintosh. Cover design by Peter LeBlanc.

b. First edition, lettered and signed copies:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1967
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards without dust jacket as issued, 94 pages, 26 lettered and signed copies, printed by Graham Mackintosh.

18. Meltzer, David. NATURE POEM *
First edition:
Santa Barbara: Unicorn Book Shop, 1967
Broadside, 13″ x 18.25″, 200 copies printed by Noel Young. Illustrated with an engraving by Janeen Vanden Berg.

Contents: “Nature Poem” [uncollected]

Note: published on the occasion of David Meltzer’s reading at the Unicorn Bookshop, Nov. 18, 1967

19. Meltzer, David. JOURNAL OF THE BIRTH *
First edition:
Berkeley: Oyez, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.75″ x 9″, 24 pages, 1000 copies.

Contents: “Journal of the Birth” [prose] [previously published in Journal for the Protection of All Beings, No. 1 (City Lights, 1961)]

20. Meltzer, David. ORF *
Hollywood: Essex House, 1968

21. Meltzer, David. THE AGENT *
Hollywood: Essex House, 1968

22. Meltzer, David. HOW MANY BLOCKS IN THE PILE? *
Hollywood: Essex House, 1968

23. Meltzer, David. ROUND THE POEM BOX *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1969
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 5.5″, 32 pages, 300 copies. Illustrated by David Meltzer. (Morrow & Cooney 60a)

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1969
Hardcover in paper-bound boards and cloth backstrip with printed paper label in acetate dust jacket, 32 pages, 125 numbered and signed copies. Illustrated by David Meltzer. (Morrow & Cooney 60b)

c. First edition, lettered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1969
Hardcover in leather-bound boards in acetate dust jacket, 32 pages, 26 lettered and signed copies. Illustrated by David Meltzer. (Morrow & Cooney 60c)

24. Meltzer, David. YESOD *
a. First edition, regular copies:
London: Trigram Press, 1969
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 61 pages. Illustrated by David Meltzer.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
London: Trigram Press, 1969
Hardcover in gilt-stamped cloth-bound boards in acetate dust jacket, 61 pages, 100 numbered and signed copies. Illustrated by David Meltzer.

25. Meltzer, David. LOVELY *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969

26. Meltzer, David. HEALER *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969

27. Meltzer, David. THE MARTYR *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969

28. Meltzer, David. GLUE FACTORY *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969

29. Meltzer, David. OUT *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969

30. Meltzer, David. FROM EDEN BOOK *
First edition:
San Francisco: Maya, 1969
Hand-sewn in plain wrappers with printed paper label, 7.5″ x 10″, 12 pages, 300 copies, letterpress printed by Clifford Burke. Published as Maya Quarto Four.

31. Meltzer, David. ABULAFIA SONG *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press, 1969
Folded broadside tipped into printed folder, 950 copies, letterpress printed by Noel Young, designed by Alan Brilliant. Illustrated by David Meltzer.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press, 1969
Folded broadside tipped into printed folder, 50 numbered and signed, letterpress printed by Noel Young, designed by Alan Brilliant. Illustrated by David Meltzer.

Contents: “Abulafia Song” [uncollected]

32. Meltzer, David. BRONX LIL. *
First edition:
Portland: Yes! Press, 1970
Broadside, 4.25″ x 11″, 125 copies, letterpress printed.

Contents: [untitled] “Bronx lil…” [uncollected]

33. Meltzer, David. FOR RAYMOND CHANDLER *
First edition:
Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press, 1970
Broadside, 12.5″ x 19″, letterpress printed. Published as Unicorn Broadsheet No. 5.

Contents: “For Raymond Chandler” [uncollected]

34. Meltzer, David. STAR *
North Hollywood: Essex House, 1970

35. Meltzer, David. ISLA VISTA NOTES *
Santa Barbara: Christopher Books, 1970
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 14 pages, 1000 copies.

36. Meltzer, David. LUNA
a. First edition, regular copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, July 1970
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 82 pages, 1000 copies, printed by Noel Young. Cover illustration by Wallace Berman. (Morrow & Cooney 88a)

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, July 1970
Hardcover bound in printed paper-covered boards in acetate dust jacket as issued , 16 pages, 200 numbered and signed copies, printed by Noel Young. Cover illustration by Wallace Berman. (Morrow & Cooney 88b)

c. First edition, lettered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, July 1970
Hardcover bound in printed paper-covered boards in acetate dust jacket as issued, 16 pages, 26 lettered and signed copies, printed by Noel Young. Frontispiece illustration by David Meltzer. Cover illustration by Wallace Berman. (Morrow & Cooney 88c)

37. Meltzer, David. GREENSPEECH *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Goleta: Christopher Books, 1970
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 16 pages, 950 copies, letterpress printed by Noel Young.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Goleta: Christopher Books, 1970
Hardcover in printed and illustrated paper-bound boards with cloth backstrip , 16 pages, 50 numbered and signed copies, letterpress printed by Noel Young.

38. Meltzer, David. 32 BEAMS OF LIGHT *
Portland: Yes! Press, 1970
Broadside, 100 copies.

39. Meltzer, David. KNOTS *
Bolinas: Tree Books, 1971
Wrappers, 500 copies

40. Meltzer, David. IT’S SIMPLE *
Seattle: Michael Wiater, 1971
Broadside

41. Meltzer, David. ON A LEASH *
San Francisco: Panjandrum Press, 1972
Broadside

42. Meltzer, David. BARK, A POLEMIC *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Santa Barbara: Capra Press, February 1973
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 42 pages, 75 numbered and signed copies. Published as Yes! Capra Chapbook Number 6.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Santa Barbara: Capra Press, February 1973
Hardcover bound in printed paper-covered boards, 42 pages, 75 numbered and signed copies. Published as Yes! Capra Chapbook Number 6.

43. Meltzer, David. HERO/LIL
a. First edition, regular copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1973

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1973
Hardcover bound in printed paper-covered boards in acetate dust jacket as issued, 175 numbered and signed copies.

c. First edition, lettered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1973
Hardcover bound in printed paper-covered boards in acetate dust jacket and slipcase as issued, 26 lettered and signed copies. Original illustration by David Meltzer bound in.

44. Meltzer, David. UNTITLED and FROM THE WORDBOOK *
East Lansing: East Lansing Arts Workshop Press, 1973
Broadside featuring two poems, 8.5″ x 11.5″

Note: printed for the 1973 National Poetry Festival at Thomas Jefferson College.

45. Meltzer, David. WHAT DO I KNOW OF JOURNEY *
London: Trigram Press, 1973
Broadside, 75 signed copies. Illustrated by Pip Benveniste

46. Meltzer, David. TENS *
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973

47. Meltzer, David. FRENCH BROOM *
Berkeley: Oyez, 1973

48. Meltzer, David. THE EYES, THE BLOOD *
San Francisco: Mudra, 1973
Hand-sewn plain white wrappers in printed dust jacket, 20 pages, 500 copies printed at the Cranium Press.

49. Meltzer, David. IN CELEBRATION OF THE WEDDING OF ALLEN SAY & DEIRDRE MYLES *
San Francisco: privately printed, 1974
Wrappers, 26 copies

50. Meltzer, David. AMULET *
Cambridge: Pomegranate Press, 1974
Broadside, 180 copies

51. Meltzer, David. BLUE RAGS *
Berkeley: Oyez, 1974

52. Meltzer, David. HARPS *
Berkeley: Oyez, 1975

53. Meltzer, David. SIX *
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1976

54. Meltzer, David. TWO-WAY MIRROR *
Berkeley: Oyez, 1977

55. Meltzer, David. ARROWS: SELECTED POETRY, 1957-1992 *
Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1994

56. Meltzer, David. NO EYES: LESTER YOUNG *
Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow, 2000

57. Meltzer, David. DAVID’S COPY *
New York: Penguin Group Press, 2005

58. Meltzer, David. WHEN I WAS A POET *
San Francisco: City Lights, June 2011

[*not in archive]

The Floating Bear

The subtitle “A Newsletter” is the key to The Floating Bear’s chief contribution to literature of the 1960’s; it was a newsletter, a speedy line of communication between experimental poets. Diane di Prima, in the introduction to the reprint edition of The Floating Bear, recalls Charles Olson’s tribute to the magazine: “The last time I saw Charles Olson in Gloucester, one of the things he talked about was how valuable the Bear had been to him in its early years because of the fact that he could get new work out that fast. He was very involved in speed, in communication. We got manuscripts from him pretty regularly in the early days of the Bear, and we’d usually get them into the very next issue. That meant that his work, his thoughts, would be in the hands of a few hundred writers within two or three weeks. It was like writing a letter to a bunch of friends.”

One is apt to think of a literary newsletter as a device for talking about poetry but not as a means for transmitting the poem itself; in Floating Bear most of the space was given over to primary work. The first twenty-five issues (up to the point when LeRoi Jones resigned as co-editor) were published over a two year period and comprised 284 pages of poetry, creative prose, and comment. Among the more frequent contributors to Floating Bear during those first two years were Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Frank O’Hara, Joel Oppenheimer, William Burroughs, Ed Dorn, A.B. Spellman, and George Stanley, as well as editors Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones.

After 1963, Floating Bear’s function as a swift communicator among poets seems to have diminished (Nos. 29 to 37 appeared over a period of five years). Size and frequency varied widely: No. 27 had 36 pages and included a 19-page section of poems by Philip Whalen; the following numbers had 16 pages and included work by eight authors. The range of contributors widened somewhat during this time, perhaps because a number of guest editors assumed partial responsibility for the magazine’s contents. Billy Linich, Alan Marlowe, Kirby Doyle, John Wieners, and Bill Berkson each appeared on the masthead as guest editor for one of the magazine’s last dozen issues. One last issue (No. 38) appeared in 1971 as a joint issue with Intrepid (its No. 20), and was edited entirely by Diane di Prima.

Floating Bear was supported solely by contributors; it was never offered for sale. Circulation ranged from 117 to 1250 copies over its eight-year span.

– Peter Martin, “An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Little Magazines”, Tri Quarterly 43, Fall 1976.


1. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 1, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, February 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 8 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Michael McClure – “The Smile Shall Not Be More Mutable than the Final Extinction of Meat. The Smile with Teeth Sunk in Lower Lip”
      Charles Olson – “All My Life I’ve Heard about Many”
      Charles Olson – “A Note on the Above”
      Max Finstein – “Regional Piece”
      Robin Blaser – “Ode for Museums, All of Them!”
      Robin Blaser – “The Flame”
      Robin Blaser – “A Story after Blake”

2. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 2, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, February 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 8 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Frank O’Hara – “Now That I Am in Madrid and Can Think”
      Frank O’Hara – “Song”
      Frank O’Hara – “Cohasset”
      Frank O’Hara – “Beer for Breakfast”
      Steve Jonas – “No Saints in Three Acts”
      Steve Jonas – “Quest”
      Robert Creeley – “A Quick Graph”
      LeRoi Jones – “Revue”
      The Editors – “Notice”

3. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 3, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, March 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Ed Dorn – “The Landscape Below”

4. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 4, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, March 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 8 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Fielding Dawson – “Oblivion Calling: Daily News”
      Fielding Dawson – “Oblivion Calling: The Dog People”
      Fielding Dawson – “Oblivion Calling: King of Crystal”
      Tony Weinberger – “For Sylvia”
      Tony Weinberger – “A Wildflower”
      Tony Weinberger – “My Beloved/ The Bee Tree/ The Whore”
      Joel Oppenheimer – “A Grace for Painters”
      Joel Oppenheimer – “Statement for Patterson Society”
      Barbara Guest – “What Am I Going to Do after the King and Queen of Nepal”
      William Mcnaughton – “Footnote to Creeley’s Graph”
      The Editors – “Notice”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “Fielding Dawson went to Black Mountain College as a painter, but after he studied with Kline a few months he decided to give up painting, although he still drew a lot. He drew the original emblem for LeRoi’s Totem Press, and he became a prose writer.”

5. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 5, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, April 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 8 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. John Thomas – “Nine Stages of a Journey from Caledonia to Harpers Ferry”
      John Thomas – “My Bird”
      LeRoi Jones – [Letter to Diane di Prima]
      William Burroughs – “Out Show Window and We’re Proud of It”
      William Burroughs – [Letter to Allen Ginsberg]
      Aquarian [Joel Oppenheimer] – “New Flick in Town”
      The Editors – “Notice”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “‘Aquarian; is always Joel Oppenheimer.”

6. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 6, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, April 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. George Stanley – “1” (“One bird called White…”)
      George Stanley – “2” (“I thought you were savage…”)
      George Stanley – “3” (“At dawn the mosquitoes…”)
      George Stanley – “4” (“What graceless guy…”)
      George Stanley – “5” (“The old train goes…”)
      George Stanley – “6” (“When he asked me…”)
      George Stanley – “7” (“A ball hurted…)
      George Stanley – “8” (“Flit in, little fairy…”)
      George Stanley – “9” (“That sense of indefinite longing…”)
      George Stanley – “10” (“I’m not satisfied with them…”)
      George Stanley – “White Matches”
      George Stanley – “12” (“Simple Simon…”)
      LeRoi Jones – “A Note on the 12 Poems”
      Stan Persky – “Larry Davis Cowboy Poem”
      Stan Persky – “Siege Poem”
      Koenig [LeRoi Jones] – “Note”
      Robert Creeley – “Edward Dorn in the News”
      [Diane] di Prima – [untitled] “arthur machen, what he has hold of…”
      Koenig [LeRoi Jones] – “Note”
      Robert Creeley – “’Statement’ for Patterson Society”
      The Editors – “Notice”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “George Stanley was in New York for a while in 1961. He was a part of Jack Spicer’s very tight circle. Jack had printed a lot of books and a magazine called J, and no copies of his things were allowed to go East. Jack felt the East Coast was Babylon. When George returned to San Francisco he went through a very bad period because Jack and the whole circle ostracized him for having gone to New York and having been published there. They said it was prostitution.”

7. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 7, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, May 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Bill Berkson – “’……’ Times”
      Bill Berkson – “How It Goes”
      Bill Berkson – “Hinterland”
      Bill Berkson – “Never”
      Bill Berkson – “You and Me”
      Bill Berkson – “Saturday Afternoon”
      Charles Olson – “Grammar – ‘A Book’”
      The Editors – “Notices”

8. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 8, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York City: The Floating Bear, May 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. A.B. Spellman – “Zapata and The Landlord, for Allen Dulles”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Joel Blues, After and For Him”
      anonymous – “Last Will and Testament of an Urban Herbalist and Agrostologist”
      Joel Oppenheimer – “17-18 April, 1961”
      Ed Dorn – “New York, New York”
      The Editors – “Notice”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “April 17-18, 1961 was the Bay of Pigs fiasco.”

9. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 9, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, June 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. LeRoi Jones – “from The System of Dante’s Hell”
      William Burroughs – “Routine: Roosevelt after Inauguration”
      Philip Whalen – “Itchy”
      unattributed – “Slave Song, 18th Cent.”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “This slave song and the prayer [in issue No. 15] both came from a book on the history of American Negro music that LeRoi was reading then.”

10. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 10, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, June 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 16 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. John Wieners – “On January 20th the Snows Began to Melt”
      John Wieners – “You Can’t Kill These Machines”
      John Wieners – “Long Nook”
      John Wieners – [untitled] “And it would be good to stop…”
      John Wieners – “Ode to the Instrument” [Black Mountain, Spring 1955]
      John Wieners – “Ode to the Instrument”
      John Wieners – “Exchange of the Lady’s Handmaids”
      John Wieners – “Objects from Route 70”
      John Wieners – “Message”
      John Wieners – “Play Land’s Aftermath”
      John Wieners – “Second Flight Across Country”
      John Wieners – “After Meditations, for F O’H”
      John Wieners – “That Old Gang of Mine”

11. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 11, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, July 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 10 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Charles Olson – “A Plausible Entry for, like, Man”
      Gil [Sorrentino] – [Letter to LeRoi Jones]
      Peter Hartman – “The Masai ***”
      James VI [King of England] – “from Reulis and Cautelis to be Observit and Eschewit in Scottis Poesie”
      Robert Kelly – “Letter to the Bear. Re: Rome”
      Denise Levertov – “An Argument. (In response to Trobar #2 and Kelly’s ‘Notes on the Poetry of the Deep Image’)”
      Larry Eigner – “Blabbermouth”
      Fred Herko – [Theater Reviews]
      The Editors – “Notices”

12. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 12, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, August 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. John Ashbery – “The Lozenges”
      John Ashbery – “The Suspended Life”
      John Ashbery – “To the Same Degree”
      John Ashbery – “The Ascetic Sensualists”
      A.B. Spellman – “Nocturne for Eric”
      Carl Solomon – “The Bughouse”
      Carl Solomon – “I Was a Communist Youth”
      Carl Solomon – “The Entrance of the Grand Gladiola”
      The Editors – “Notices”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “Allen Ginsberg dedicated ‘Howl’ to Carl Solomon.”

13. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 13, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, September 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Second Beautiful Day”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day, III”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day, IV”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day, V”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day VI”
      A.B. Spellman – “The Beautiful Day VII”
      Joe Early – “Les Enfants du Paradis”
      David Ossman – “Comments on Montage”
      Steve Jonas – “Altar”
      John Thomas – “Alba”
      John Thomas – “Memo for Coffeehouse Psychologists”
      Fielding Dawson – “The Turn of the Wheel”
      The Editors – “Notices”

14. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 14, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, October 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 14 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Michael McClure – “!The Feast!, for Ornette Coleman”
      Philip Whalen – “Goodbye & Hello, Again 6:II:60”

Note: an announcement concerning the arrest of the editors was sent out separately and with some copies of No. 14.

15. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 15, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, November 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Bruce Boyd – “Canticles for the Hours: Prime”
      Bruce Boyd – “Thread”
      Bruce Boyd – “1.” (“because it wasn’t sugar…”)
      Bruce Boyd – “2.” (“well, old honey, back to the hard sound…”)
      Bruce Boyd – “3.” (“or say that it is not love…”)
      Allen Ginsberg – “History of the Jewish Socialist Party in America”
      author unknown – “Early South Carolina Gullah Prayer”
      Frank O’Hara – “For the Chinese New Year & for Bill Berkson”
      Joseph Lesueur – [Theater Reviews]
      The Editors – “Notices”

16. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 16, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, December 1961
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. George Stanley – [untitled] “They would force scrunched…”
      George Stanley – [untitled] “The sailors in their ship…”
      George Stanley – [untitled] “Myriads now fly down…”
      Dave Ossman and Martin Green – “A Film Form: Outline for a Filmscript”
      Charles Olson – “To Empty the Mind”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “The World of the Lie”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “The Mendacity of Windows”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “The Mendacity of Radio”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “The Mendacity of Sculpture”
      Ron Loewinsohn – “Coda: As Far as the Pass”
      Ron Loewinsohn – [untitled] “On the way back from Chicago (September, ’56)…”
      Marian Zazeela – “The Guggenheim Exhibition of Abstract Expressionists and Imagists (to Dec. 31)”
      Alan Marlowe – “Review”
      G. Sorrentino – “Rollins’ Return”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “Marian Zazeela’s review of the Guggenheim exhibit caused a lot of commotion. After that point a lot of the New York painters who had been helping us with the Bear wouldn’t give us any more money because she suggested that Robert Motherwell was copying from his wife Helen Frankenthaler. Motherwell got very mad at us and wrote me a very nasty postcard.”

17. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 17, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, January 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Joel Oppenheimer – “A Treatise”
      Hubert Selby, Jr. – “September 24, 1961, A Floating Bear Special”
      Charles Olson – “The Americans”
      Paul Metcalf – “Darlington, South Carolina”
      Max Finstein – “Song”
      Max Finstein – “The Trial”
      Max Finstein – “The Merger”
      Jerry Benjamin – [Theatre Review]
      Fred Herko – “Paul Taylor–A History”
      The Editors – “Notices”

18. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 18, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, February 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. David Meltzer – “Poem to H.P. Lovecraft”
      David Meltzer – “The Struggle / Poems for the Muse”
      David Meltzer – “Heroes: 7 / The Comics”
      Mike Strong – “After”
      Mike Strong – “Overture”
      Mike Strong – “Mornings”
      LeRoi Jones – “Footnote to a Pretentious Book”
      Charles Olson – “In the Face of the Chinese View of the City”
      Joseph Lesueur – “Random Thoughts about Recent Plays, On and Off Broadway”
      George Brecht – “Statement for James Goldsworthy”
      John King [LeRoi Jones] – “Rejoinder: Concerning the Reviews by Miss Zazeela and Mr. Marlowe in FB 16”
      Frank Buck [pseud.; not Identified] – “Consumer’s Guide”

19. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 19, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, March 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Robert Duncan – “Night Scenes”
      Jonathan Williams – “We Take the Golden Road, to Samar, Kansas…”
      Stuart Perkoff – [untitled] “the Christian philo…”
      Stuart Perkoff – “2.” (“we step & and do not step…”)
      Stuart Perkoff – “3.” (“the river was warm, but not warm enough…”)
      Stuart Perkoff – “Three Prayers”
      Stuart Perkoff – “The Swing”
      Gertrude “Ma” Rainey – “Sissy Blues”
      Diane di Prima – “December, 1961”
      LeRoi Jones – “James Waring and Dance Company”
      Edwin Denby – [Letter to the Editors]
      The Editors – “Notices”

20. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 20, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, May 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. The Editors [LeRoi Jones] – “Hello, Ma I Glad I Win!”
      Bertolt Brecht – “A Letter to His Fascist Friend Arnolt Bronnen in the Summer of 1923”
      Paul Blackburn – “The Cronopios in America–1.”
      J. Williams – “Best Reading List”
      Ed Dorn – “A Wild Blue, Yonder”
      Ed Dorn – “Time Blonde”
      Ed Dorn – “In My Youth I Was a Tireless Dancer”
      Ed Dorn – “The Song Is Ended”
      Ed Dorn – “The Poet Lectures Famous Potatoes”
      Ed Dorn – “Nose from Newswhere”
      Diane di Prima – “from Whale Honey”

21. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 21, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, August 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Frank O’Hara – “Mary Desti’s Ass”
      Frank O’Hara – “St. Paul and All That”
      Charles Olson – “A Work”
      Norman Solomon – “A Passion Play. 1.”
      Norman Solomon – “962”
      Peter Orlovsky and Allen Ginsberg – “Our Dear Friend Charles”
      Aquarian [Joel Oppenheimer] – “Best Reading List”
      Diane di Prima – “A Concert of Dance–Judson Memorial Church, Friday, 6 July 1962”
      The Editors – “Notices”

22. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 22, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, August 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. David Shapiro – “Lament”
      David Shapiro – “The Bluebird”
      David Shapiro – “The Storm”
      David Shapiro – “Canticle as Grieving”
      David Shapiro – “Poem”
      Yu Suwa – “A Poem, 1961-1962”
      LeRoi Jones – “The Politics of Rich Painters”
      Gary Snyder – “The Curse”
      Joseph Lesueur – “Rotten Apple”
      Steve Jonas – “Green”
      Steve Jonas – “Sub Voce”
      George Stanley – “The Italian”
      Abe Harvard [Peter Hartman] – “In Quest of Ugendun”
      Diane Wakoski – [Letter to the Editors]
      The Editors – “Notices”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “David Shapiro was 16 years old. For his age his stuff was brilliant, and people in Frank O’Hara’s crowd were interested in him. He was a very funny person when I met him because all his 16-year-old, adolescent, New Jersey personality was there on the surface, in spite of the fact that he could make these very far-out images. He kept calling me Miss di Prima and Frank Mr. O’Hara, and Frank finally got very embarrassed about it.”

23. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 23, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, September 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Kirby Doyle – “from The Happiness Bastard”
      Diane di Prima – “Careers: A Naturalistic Tragedy”
      Frank Lima – “Pudgy”
      James Waring – [Letter to The Floating Bear]
      Anton Webern [Peter Hartman?] – [Letter to the Editors]
      Miles Campion [LeRoi Jones?] – [Letter to the Editors]
      The Editors – “Notices”

24. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 24, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, September-October 1962
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 12 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. William S. Burroughs – “Spain & 42 St.”
      William S. Burroughs – “Dead Whistle Stop Already End”
      William S. Burroughs – “Where Flesh Circulates”
      Paul C. Metcalf – “In This Corner: Charles Olson”
      Soren Agenoux – “A Movie Review”
      Johannes Koenig [LeRoi Jones] – “Names & Bodies (Notes)”
      Soren Agenoux – “12 Leçons de Ténèbres”
      George Montgomery – [untitled] “Lemons on barber poles…”
      The Editors – “Notices”

25. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 25, edited by Diane di Prima and LeRoi Jones
Topanga: The Floating Bear, November 1962-March 1963
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 8 pages plus Auerhahn advertisement flyer, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Lew Welch – “Voice from Rat Flat!”
      Richard Baker – “Struggle”
      Richard Baker – “Beer”
      Dale Landers – “III Of a Growth Of”
      Robert Creeley – “The Skeleton”
      A.B. Spellman – “Baltimore Oriole, for M.R.”
      A.B. Spellman – “A Home Brew”
      The Editors – “Thank Yous”
      [Advertisement for Auerhahn Press]

26. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 26, guest-edited by Billy Linich
New York: The Floating Bear, October 1963
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 10 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. [George Herms] – [untitled] “Wet floor feet faster than wine…”
      [George Herms] – “Tap City Easter Circus Report”
      Michael Katz – “4 Short Stories for Passover”
      John [Wieners] – [untitled] “Mary Butts, inhabit her Ashe family of Rings…”
      Mary Butts – [untitled] “Until they came to the world’s end…”
      John [Daley?] – [Letter to Billy Linich]
      George Brecht – [Note to Billy Linich]
      Kirby Doyle – “Moon Poem, for Jarry Heiserman”
      Ray Johnson – [Letters to Various Persons]
      Ray Johnson – “Where Is the Palace? Iodine.”
      Duke Mantee [LeRoi Jones] – “Voices from the Art World (or, Bright Sayings)”
      The Editors – “Notices”
      [Diane di Prima] – “This Is a Very Strong Appeal for Funds”

27. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 27, edited by Diane di Prima
New York: The Floating Bear, November 1963
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 34 pages, mimeograph printed.

  • Contents:
    1. Philip Whalen – “The Art of Literature”
      Philip Whalen – “The Saturday Visitations”
      Philip Whalen – “Sunday Afternoon Dinner Fung Loy Restaurant San Francisco”
      Philip Whalen – “Hello to All the Folks Back Home”
      Philip Whalen – “The Art of Literature, 2nd Part”
      Philip Whalen – “Heigho, Nobody’s at Home”
      Philip Whalen – “Ignorantaccio”
      Philip Whalen – “The Art of Literature, #3, A Total Explanation, for Dr. A.”
      Philip Whalen – [untitled] “without gills or lungs or brain…”
      Philip Whalen – “Saturday 15:IX:62”
      Philip Whalen – “Fillmore Hob Nob Carburetor”
      Philip Whalen – “The Art of Literature, Part 4th”
      Philip Whalen – “The Gallery, Mill Valley”
      Philip Whalen – “Applegravy”
      Philip Whalen – “The Professor Comes to Call”
      Philip Whalen – “The Art of Literature, Concluded”
      Philip Whalen – “How We Live the More Abundant Life in America”
      Aquarian [Joel Oppenheimer] – “R I P”
      Ray Johnson – “Review by Ray Johnson (in the Style of Floating Bear)”
      Alan Marlowe – [Theatre Review]
      [Michael Rumaker?] – “Wieners & Stein at Judson”
      Michael Rumaker – “The Island, by Robert Creeley” [book review]
      John Wieners – “The Reporters, A Review by John Wieners”
      John Daley – “Billy Linich’s Party”
      [Author Unknown] – “Mss. Found in the Debris at the Living Theatre: The Journal of an IRS Agent”
      Alan Marlowe and Diane di Prima – [Announcement for the New Choreographers Company]
      The Editors – [Notices]
      Ray Johnson – [Letter to the Floating Bear]

28. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 28, edited by Diane di Prima
New York: The Floating Bear, December 1963
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 16 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Al Leslie.

  • Contents:
    1. Mary Caroline Richards – “Christmas Sonnet”
      Mary Caroline Richards – “To My New Goat”
      Gregory Corso – “I Dream in Daytime”
      Jack Smith – “Normal Love”
      LeRoi Jones – “In Wyoming Territory (a Title)”
      LeRoi Jones – “In Wyoming Territory (a Veil)”
      LeRoi Jones – “In Wyoming Territory (a Story.”
      LeRoi Jones – “In Wyoming Territory (Music of”
      LeRoi Jones – “In Wyoming Territory (Dance/Like/”
      Edward Field – “Chopin”
      John Wieners – “Journal of the First Night”
      Frank O’Hara – “Pistachio Tree at Château Noir”

29. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 29, edited by Diane di Prima
New York: The Floating Bear, March 1964
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 20 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by George Herms.

  • Contents:
    1. Robert Grosseteste – “On Light or the Beginning of Forms”
      James Waring – [untitled] “Seen anywhere can art avalanche…”
      Julian Beck – “Acrostic for the Community of Poets and Joel Oppenheimer”
      John Thomas – “Some Books”
      Frank O’Hara – “Adventures in Living”
      Gerard Malanga – “Rollerskate”
      Gerard Malanga – “A Magic Realist Painting, for Alan Marlowe”
      John Herbert Mcdowell – “Special to the Floating Bear”
      Morton Feldman – [Letter to the Floating Bear]
      [Gilbert] Sorrentino – “Signal: A New Magazine”
      Fielding Dawson – “I Confess”
      James Waring – “Art Chronicle”
      The Editors – “Notices”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “Jerry Malanga wrote ‘Rollerskate’ as a tribute to Freddie Herko after Freddie’s death. I don’t know if the film it refers to was ever made.”

30. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 30, edited by Diane di Prima
New York: The Floating Bear, November 1964
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 20 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Jeanne Marlowe.

  • Contents:
    1. Ruth Krauss – “As I Passed the Andy Auto Body Works”
      Alan Marlowe – “A Play”
      author unknown [Peter Abelard?] – “Medieval Latin Song” (trans. Diane di Prima)
      Ferencz Mcnaughton [pseud.?] – “May Meeting with C. Goy”
      Carl Solomon – “Pilgrim State Hospital”
      anon., As Told To Hubert Selby, Jr. – “My Return to Pilgrim State”
      Herbert Huncke – [untitled] “I could not believe we had anything…”
      Gilbert Sorrentino – “For the Floating Bear: Prose of Our Time”
      Allan Kaprow – “from the Construction of Boston”
      James Waring – [Letter to the Floating Bear]
      Alex Katz – [Letter to the Editors]
      Howard Schulman – “Jan Muller (1922-58) at the Guggenheim thru 2/25/62”
      Anne Wilson – “October ‘26 Rauschenberg”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “The cover of Number 30 was done by my daughter Jeannie who was six and a half years old at that time.”

31. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 31, guest-edited by Alan Marlowe
New York City: The Floating Bear, June 1965
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 16 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Jess Collins.

  • Contents:
    1. author unknown – “Great Prajna Paramita Sutra” (trans. by Shenryu Suzuki)
      John Wieners – “Procrastination”
      John Wieners – “Procrastination”
      John Wieners – “Procrastination”
      John Wieners – “Night Boat to Cairo”
      John Wieners – “The Mole Proposes Solitude”
      John Wieners – “Song Lyric for ‘Shoot the President’”
      Robert Duncan – “Notes from A Reading at the Poetry Center, San Francisco, March 1, 1959”
      The Editors – “Editors Notes”

32. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 32, guest-edited by Kirby Doyle
Kerhonkson: The Floating Bear, February 1966
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 16 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Robert Branaman.

  • Contents:
    1. Michael McClure – “Cupid’s Grin”
      John Keats – “A Fragment to Fanny”
      Thomas Chatterton – “Last Verses”
      Sharon Morrill – [untitled] “Body dying of chemical injecto…”
      Thomas Traherne – “from The Centuries”
      Yvonne Rainer – “Some Thoughts on Improvisation”
      Kirby Doyle – “Some Notes Toward a Text for the Unyielding Kings of the New Undead”
      Allen Ginsberg – “Psalm IV”
      Diane di Prima – “Buddhist New Year Song”
      Sheri Martinelli – “Duties of a Lady Female”
      Clive Matson – “The Good-Bye Scene”
      The Editors – “Notes”
      The Editors – [Advertisement for the Poets Press]

33. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 33, guest-edited by John Wieners
Brooklyn: The Floating Bear, February 1967
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 36 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Paolo Lionni.

  • Contents:
    1. [John Wieners] – “Our Unborn Child”
      John Broderick – “My Flowers…” [illustration]
      Jack Spicer – “The Bridge Game”
      Jack Spicer – “Lives of the Philosophers: Diogenes”
      Deedee Doyle [Sharon Morill] – [untitled illustration]
      B. O’Driscoll [Bobby Driscoll] – “Sunday”
      John Wieners – “The Drug Addict’s Dilemma: An Answer to America”
      Sanders Russell – “Two Poems”
      Philip Lamantia – “For Real”
      John Reed – “Three Poems”
      Kirby Doyle – “A Valo Poem”
      David Rattray – [untitled] “If only I could…”
      Edward Freeman – “Prints and Prisons”
      David Posner – “In Memory of a Friend”
      Allen De Loach – “The A Train”
      Bob Hartman – “This is the Flip Side of the Record”
      Robert Grenier – “A Race”
      Charles Doria – “from Christine’s Version”
      Stephen Jonas – “Subway Haiku”
      Alan Marlowe – [untitled] “Lady cat is missing…”
      Irving Rosenthal – “The Mouse King”
      Lewis Lipschitz – [untitled] “When I See the small fish…”
      Howard Schulman – [untitled] “When you breathe on me…”
      Elizabeth Sutherland – “B’s Blues”
      Joan Gilbert – [untitled] “this is the beginning of our end…”
      Jeanne Phillips – [untitled] “today we have the good witch…”
      Jeanne Phillips – “Observations”
      Jan Balas – [untitled] “I know its Thursday…”
      Jan Balas – “Meth Madness after Many Days”
      Diane di Prima – “Song for My Spooks”
      Diane di Prima – “First Snow, Kerhonkson, for Alan”
      Shreela Ray – [untitled] “I saw myself in abyss-green…”
      Shiela Plant – “Term Paper for 8 Year Old”
      Shiela Plant – “Autobiography”
      Shiela Plant – “Adamancy”
      Madeline Davis – “To Ronny”
      Janine Pommey – “On Train to Holland, 12-29-65”
      Janine Pommey – “October, 65, Ibiza Spain”
      Janine Pommey – “Paris 9-64, to Alex:”
      Janine Pommey – “Spring, Paris 65, to Fernando:”
      Janine Pommey – “Two Line Poems Written in Paris ‘65”
      The Editors – “Notices”

34. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 34, edited by Diane di Prima
Brooklyn: The Floating Bear, October 1967
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 28 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Michael Bowen.

  • Contents:
    1. Jack Spicer – “The Day Five Thousand Fish Died in the Charles River”
      Jack Spicer – “Poem, by a Computer at Mit, Which Was Fed the Elements of English Grammar, and Directed to Produce Sentences”
      Keith Wilson – “Graves Registry XII, Body at Sea”
      Keith Wilson – “Graves Registry XIV, Sea Songs for Women”
      Gary Snyder – [untitled] “Could she see the whole real world…”
      Gary Snyder – “The Coyote Breath”
      Emily Bronte – “Cold in the Earth”
      Stuart Perkoff – [untitled] “what a city is…”
      Rajkamal Chowdhury – “The Cycle or the Yoni-chakra (a Tantric Song)”
      Lorenzo Thomas – “Poem in Lieu of the Marriage of Andrew Zolem”
      Arcane School, N.Y.C. – “Zodiac”
      George Stanley – [untitled] “I thought and thought…”
      George Stanley – [untitled] “the past (as if in parenthesis)…”
      Bertolt Brecht – “Of Poor B. B.” (trans. Jack Collom)
      Frank O’Hara – “Dérangé sur un Pont de l’Adour”
      Frank O’Hara – “Hôtel Particulier”
      Johannes Koenig [LeRoi Jones] – “The Structure of the Academy Is: Against, the Street, or, Versus.”
      Yukio Matsuda – “The Landing” (trans. Syunichi Niikura)
      Yu Suwa – “Jacob’s Ladder” (trans. Syunichi Niikura)
      Atsushi Sekiguci – “New Year Greeting” (trans. Syunichi Niikura)
      Philip Lamantia – “Rest in Peace”
      Jack Kerouac – “How to Meditate”
      Jack Kerouac – “Hitch Hiker”
      David W. Mckain – “Street Corner Song”
      David W. Mckain – “Special Eye”
      David W. Mckain – “Newark Black Survival Committee Press Conference”
      The Editors – “Notices”

35. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 35, edited by Diane di Prima
New York: The Floating Bear, April 1968
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 26 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by John Reed.

  • Contents:
    1. Philip Lamantia – “Inscription for the Vanishing Republic”
      Philip Lamantia – “Orphic Poem”
      Philip Lamantia – “The Call”
      Philip Lamantia – “Politics Poem”
      Philip Lamantia – “Lava”
      Philip Lamantia – “Cool Apocalypse”
      Philip Lamantia – “Visions”
      Philip Lamantia – [untitled] “That I burned by the screech owl castle…”
      Steve Jonas – “A Poem for Tony Sherrod”
      John Thomas – “The Empty Blues”
      Lenore Kandel – “Junk/Angel”
      LeRoi Jones – “Indians”
      LeRoi Jones – “A Traffic of Love”
      LeRoi Jones – “Old Men’s Feet”
      LeRoi Jones – “Nick Charles Meets the Wolf-Man”
      LeRoi Jones – “West of Dodge”
      Michael Rumaker – “The Island, by Robert Creeley” [book review]
      Michael Rumaker – “WFME Interview with Night Editor of Newark Evening News”
      The Editors – “Notices of All Kinds”

36. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 36, guest-edited by Bill Berkson
New York City: The Floating Bear, January-July 1969
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 40 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Ray Johnson.

  • Contents:
    1. Larry Fagin, Bill Berkson, and Ron Padgett – “Beautiful Music”
      Larry Fagin, Bill Berkson, and Ron Padgett – “Dog Salt”
      Larry Fagin, Bill Berkson, and Ron Padgett – “The Secret of Jane Bowles”
      Max Ernst – “From”
      Michael Brownstein – “Driving Through Belgium”
      Michael Brownstein – “The Shining Hand”
      Michael Brownstein – “Woman Walking Slowly Downstairs and Waving”
      Anne Waldman – “Be Happy O Sad World Be Happy”
      Anne Waldman – “Bright Side”
      Tom Clark – “Where I Live”
      Clark Coolidge – “Nothing at Newbegins”
      Clark Coolidge – “Noun Adder”
      Blaise Cendrars – “Dorypha” (trans. Ron Padgett)
      Bill Berkson – “Forked Dah”
      Bill Berkson – “Stanky”
      David Shapiro – “For the Princess Hello”
      Diane di Prima – “Stone Take”
      Kenneth Koch – “I Am from Argentina”
      John Thorpe – “Shaman’s Pain”
      John Thorpe – “When”
      John Thorpe – “Dust Eater”
      Ron Padgett – “Movable Basketballs”
      Lewis Warsh – “Opening the Day”
      John Ashbery – “Upper Silesia”
      The Editors – “Readables”

37. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER, No. 37, edited by Diane di Prima
New York City: The Floating Bear, March-July 1969
First edition, corner-stapled sheets, 8.5” x 11”, 24 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Wallace Berman.

  • Contents:
    1. Lenore Kandel – “Hymn to Maitreya in America”
      LeRoi Jones – “What the Arts Need Now”
      Kirby Doyle – “An Unfinished Letter, Amir id-Emaid”
      Kirby Doyle – [untitled] “The belly of the moon…”
      Kirby Doyle – [untitled] “Again the butterfly visits me…”
      Kirby Doyle – [untitled] “I came to the top of this…”
      Kirby Doyle – “Upon Jail”
      Kirby Doyle – “-1- the Alchemist”
      Kirby Doyle – “-2- the Angel”
      Kirby Doyle – “-3- the Singer”
      Kirby Doyle – “-4- the Fallen”
      Kirby Doyle – “-5- the Risen”
      Gary Snyder – “Buddhism & The Coming Revolution”
      Victor Hernandez Cruz – “Poem for the Empire”
      Victor Hernandez Cruz – “Third World”
      Diane di Prima – “Canticle of St. Joan, for Robert Duncan”
      Michael McClure – “Tear Gas”
      Janine Pommy-Vega – “Poem for David”
      Janine Pommy-Vega – “Poem to Pitt/ If That Is Your Name…..”
      Tao Te Ching – “from Tao Te Ching” (trans. Paul Carus)
      Dave Cunliffe and Tina Morris – “Invocation”
      Freewheelin’ Frank [Frank Reynolds] – “’The Hymn’ to ‘Lucifer’”

According to Diane di Prima in notes to Laurence McGilvery’s facsimile edition of The Floating Bear, “The poem by Freewheelin’ Frank [Frank Reynolds] came out of a book that was done here in San Francisco. It was issued as a portfolio and ws the last printing effort of the Free City people; they had been doing a free publishing thing. They did Brautigan’s Please Plant This Book, poems printed on packets of seeds. They also did a dittoed version of Kirby Doyle’s Angelfaint, which he wouldn’t let them release because it had too many typographical errors in it. One thousand copies of it are probably still in Irving Rosenthal’s basement, without covers. Frank’s book was beautifully printed, all on separate sheets in about four colors. Freewheelin’ Frank’s name somehow didn’t get on this poem, so we had to write it in by hand on all the copies.”


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

di Prima, Diane and LeRoi Jones. editors. THE FLOATING BEAR: A NEWSLETTER. Numbers 1-37, 1961-1969
La Jolla: Laurence McGilvery, 1973


Online Resources:

· Beat Visions and the Counterculture – Floating Bear
· From a Secret Location – The Floating Bear
· Reality Studio – Floating Bear Archive

Michael McClure: Contributions to Periodicals

>> return to MICHAEL MCCLURE main page >>

Section C:
This index includes contributions to periodicals, and focuses primarily on the entries found in the Clements bibliography.


1. POETRY, Vol. 87, No. 4, edited by Henry Rago
mags_poetry8704Chicago: Poetry, January 1956

McClure contribution: “2 for Theodore Roetheke: Premonition”
(Clements C1)

Note: This is McClure’s first appearance in print.

2. SEMINA, No. 2, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, December 1957

McClure contribution: “I Wanted to Turn to Electricity”
(Clements C2)


3. ARK II / MOBY I, edited by Michael McClure and James Harmon
mags_ark2San Francisco: Ark, 1956-57

McClure contribution: “Canoe: Explication”, “Logos: Knout”
(Clements C3)


4. EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by Barney Rosset and Donald Allen
mags_evergreen0102New York: Grove Press, 1957

McClure contribution: “Night Words: The Ravishing”, “Cat’s Air”, “The Rug”, “The”, “Note”, “The Robe”
(Clements C5)

5. BLACK MOUNTAIN REVIEW, No. 7, edited by Robert Creeley
mags_blackmtn7Black Mountain: Black Mountain College, Autumn 1957

McClure contribution: “Poem”
(Clements C6)


6. MEASURE, No. 2, edited by John Wieners
mags_measure2San Francisco: Measure, Winter 1958

McClure contribution: “The Magazine Cover”, “One & Two”
(Clements C7)


7. CHICAGO REVIEW, Vol. 12, No. 1, edited by Irving Rosenthal
mags_chicagoreview1201Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Spring 1958

McClure contribution: “The Mess”, “7/26/57”, “Less Than Vanity”, “The Breech”
(Clements C8)


8. EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 2, No. 6, edited by Barney Rosset and Donald Allen *
New York: Grove Press, Autumn 1958

McClure contribution: “Ode to Jackson Pollock”
(Clements C9)



9. YUGEN, No. 4, edited by LeRoi Jones and Hettie Cohen 
mags_yugen4New York: Yugen, 1959

McClure contribution: “The Chamber”
(Clements C11)



10. JABBERWOCK, American Issue, edited by Alex Neish
mags_jabberwockEdinburgh: University Renaissance Society, 1959

McClure contribution: “For Artaud”, “A Fantasy and Courtly Poem”, “Ode for Soft Voice, for Jo Ann”
(Clements C12)


11. YUGEN, No. 5, edited by LeRoi Jones and Hettie Cohen 
mags_yugen5New York: Yugen, 1959

McClure contribution: “Rant Block”
(Clements C13)



12. SEMINA, No. 4, edited by Wallace Berman
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1959

McClure contribution: “We’re in the Middle of a Deep Cloud”
(Clements C14)


13. BEATITUDE, No. 5, edited by John Kelly
San Francisco: John Kelly, June 1959

McClure contribution: “Lines from a Peyote Depression”
(not in Clements)


14. SEMINA, No. 5, edited by Wallace Berman
Larkspur: Wallace Berman, 1959

McClure contribution: “We are Impervious as the Skin of our Dreams”
(Clements C17)


15. THE GALLEY SAIL REVIEW, Vol. 2, No. 1, Issue No. 5, edited by David Rafael Wang
mags_galleysail5San Francisco: Galley Sail Publications, Winter 1959-1960

McClure contribution: “L’Etoile”
(Clements C15)


16. SIDEWALK, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Alex Neish
Edinburgh: Sidewalk, 1960

McClure contribution: “The Flower of Politics”
(Clements C16)



17. BIG TABLE, Vol. 1, No. 4, edited by Paul Carroll
mags_bigtable14Chicago: Big Table, Spring 1960

McClure contribution: “Two Poems from A Small Secret Book”
(Clements C18)


18. YUGEN, No. 6, edited by LeRoi Jones and Hettie Cohen 
mags_yugen6New York: Yugen, 1960

McClure contribution: “The Column”
(Clements C19)



19. BEATITUDE, No. 17, edited by Bob Kaufman
mags_beatitude17San Francisco: City Lights, Oct-Nov 1960

McClure contribution: “Oh Why Oh Why The Blasted Love The Huge Shape Change?” (from Dark Brown)
(Clements C20)

20. THE FLOATING BEAR, No. 1, edited by Diane Di Prima and LeRoi Jones *
New York: The Floating Bear, February 1961

McClure contribution: “The Smile shall not be More Mutable than the Final Extinction of Meat”
(Clements C21)

21. NOMAD, No. 9, edited by Donald Factor and Anthony Linick
mags_nomad9Culver City: Nomad, Summer 1961

McClure contribution: “High”, “From a Notebook”
(Clements C22)



22. THE FLOATING BEAR, No. 14, edited by Diane Di Prima and LeRoi Jones
New York: The Floating Bear, October 1961

McClure contribution: “!The Feast!”
(Clements C24)



23. THE OUTSIDER, No. 1, edited by Gypsy Lou and Jon Webb 
mags_outsider01New Orleans: Loujon Press, Fall 1961

McClure contribution: “Spontaneous Hymn to Kundalini”
(Clements C25)


24. EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 20, edited by Barney Rosset *
New York: Evergreen Review, Sep-Oct 1961

McClure contribution: “On Seeing Through Shelley’s Eyes The Medusa”
(Clements C26)


25. JOURNAL FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL BEINGS, No. 1,  edited by Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and David Meltzer
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1961

McClure contribution: “Revolt”
(Clements C27)



26. KULCHUR, Vol. 2, No. 8, edited by Lita Hornick
mags_kulchur8New York: Kulchur Press, Winter 1962

McClure contribution: “Phi Upsilon Kappa”
(Clements C28)



27. FOOT, No. 2, edited by Richard Duerden and William Brown
mags_foot2San Francisco: Foot, 1962

McClure contribution: “The Surge”
(Clements C29)



28. PA’LANTE, No. 1, edited by Howard Schulman
New York: The League of Militant Poets, May 1962

McClure contribution: “Fidelio”, “Twigs”
(Clements C30)


29. EL CORNO EMPLUMADO, No. 3, edited by Sergio Mondragón and Margaret Randall
Mexico City: El Corno Emplumado, July 1962

McClure contribution: “Dear Jane”, “Drunk Writing”
(Clements C31)


30. ORIGIN, Second Series, No. 6, edited by Cid Corman
mags_origin26Kyoto: Cid Corman, July 1962

McClure contribution: “The Held Back Pain”
(Clements C32)



31. EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 6, No. 25, edited by Barney Rosset
New York: Evergreen Review, Jul-Aug 1962

McClure contribution: “Drug Notes”
(Clements C33)



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

McClure contribution: “The Mind Pain Comes Over Me and I Am Blunked”
(Clements C34)


33. TISH, No. 12, edited by Frank Davey
Vancouver: TISH, August 1962

McClure contribution: “Mad Sonnet”
(not in Clements)



34. THE NATION, Vol. 196, No. 3, edited by Carey McWilliams *
New York: The Nation, Jan 1963

McClure contribution: “The Human Face”
(Clements C35)

35. SEMINA, No. 8, edited by Wallace Berman
Los Angeles: Wallace Berman, 1963

McClure contribution: “Ghost Tantra (No. 14)”
(Clements C36)



36. THE OUTSIDER, No. 3, edited by Gypsy Lou and Jon Webb 
mags_outsider03New Orleans: Loujon Press, Spring 1963

McClure contribution: “Three Mad Sonnets”
(Clements C37)



37. POETRY, Vol. 102, No. 3,  edited by Henry Rago
Chicago: Poetry, June 1963

McClure contribution: “The Child”, “Mad Sonnet”, “Mad Sonnet”
(Clements C38)


38. ARTFORUM, Vol II, No. 1, edited by John Irwin *
San Francisco: John Irwin, July 1963

McClure contribution: “Dog Star Man” [prose]
(Clements C39)


39. CITY LIGHTS JOURNAL, No. 1, edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti *
San Francisco:  City Lights Books, 1963

McClure contribution: “Notes on a Miniature Drama”
(Clements C40)


40. NORTHWEST REVIEW, Vol. 6, No. 4, , edited by Edward Van Aelstyn
Eugene: University of Oregon, Fall 1963

McClure contribution: “Artaud: Peace Chief”
(Clements C41)



41. FUCK YOU / A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 5, Vol. 4, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: Fuck You Press, c.1963

McClure contribution: “Fuck Essay”
(Clements C42)



42. NOW, No. 1, edited by Charles Plymell
mags_nowSan Francisco: Now, 1963

McClure contribution: “I, Michael McClure”, “Black and Yellow: Pansy”
(Clements C43)


43. EVERGREEN REVIEW, Vol. 8, No. 32, edited by Barney Rosset *
New York: Grove Press, Apr-May 1964

McClure contribution: “The Growl”
(Clements C44)



44. JOGLARS, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Clark Coolidge and George Palmer
mags_joglars11Providence: Joglars, Spring 1964

McClure contribution: “Sanza 13” from Love Lion Book
(Clements C46)


45. FILM CULTURE, No. 32, edited by Jonas Mekas
New York: Film Culture, Spring 1964

McClure contribution: “Defense of Jayne Mansfield”
(Clements C47)


46. GNAOUA, No. 1, edited by Ira Cohen
mags_gnaoua1Tangier: Gnaoua, Spring 1964

McClure contribution: “The Beast Sound: Nine Poems”
(Clements C48)


47. CLEFT, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by Bill McArthur
mags_cleft12Edinburgh: Cleft, May 1964

McClure contribution: “Ghost Tantra 50”
(Clements C49)



48. KULCHUR, Vol. 4, No. 14, edited by Lita Hornick
New York: Kulchur Press, Summer 1964

McClure contribution: “Reason”
(Clements C50)



49. IMAGO, No. 1, edited by George Bowering
Alberta: Imago, 1964

McClure contribution: “Three Poems from The Beast Sound”
(Clements C51)


50. FUCK YOU / A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 5, Vol. 7, edited by Ed Sanders 
New York: Fuck You Press, Sep 1964

McClure contribution: “Airs from a Forgotten Book”
(Clements C52)


51. NOW NOW, [Now, No. 2], edited by Charles Plymell
San Francisco: Ari Publications, 1965

McClure contribution: “Love Lion, Lioness”
(Clements C53)



52. DIMAS, No. 3,  edited by Alan Jay Arikian
Elmhurst: Dimas, Feb 1965

McClure contribution: “For Me”, “For a Drawing by Bruce Conner”, “Only Simplicity”, “The Convertible”
(Clements C54)

53. THE SAN FRANCISCO KEEPER’S VOICE, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by Alexander Weiss
San Francisco: Alexander Weiss, Feb 1965

McClure contribution: “Ghost Tantra 15”
(Clements C55)



54. MY OWN MAG, No. 11, edited by Jeff Nuttall
Barnet: Jeff Nuttall, Feb 1965

McClure contribution: “Dream Tables, No. 1 & 2”
(Clements C56)



55. C, A JOURNAL OF POETRY, Vol. 1, No. 10, edited by Ted Berrigan
New York, Feb 1965

McClure contribution: “Ghost Tantra #9”
(Clements C57)



56. FUCK YOU / A MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS, No. 5, Vol. 8, edited by Ed Sanders
New York: Fuck You Press, March 1965

McClure contribution: “Poem Cards”
(Clements C58)



57. FUX!, No. 1, edited by Robert Branaman
San Francisco: Ari Publications, Spring 1965

McClure contribution: “Wondersmitten! Trancelike! Profound!”
(Clements C60)


58. SIGMA PORTFOLIO, No. 21, edited by Alexander Trocchi
London, 1965

McClure contribution: “Revolt”
(Clements C61)

 

[* not in archive]

Michael McClure: Books and Broadsides

>> return to MICHAEL MCCLURE main page >>

Section A:
This index includes books and broadsides, and focuses primarily on the entries found in the Clements bibliography.


1. McClure, Michael. PASSAGE
mcclure_passageFirst edition:
Big Sur: Jonathan Williams – Publisher, June 1956
Hand-sewn in printed wrappers, 7.25″ x 10.75″, 12 pages, 200 copies, letterpress printed by the Windhover Press. Cover by Jonathan Williams. Published as Jargon 20.
(Clements A1)

2. McClure, Michael. PEYOTE POEM
First edition:
(San Francisco): Wallace Berman, 1958.
Broadside folded and tipped into printed and  photo-illustrated folder, 9″ x 12″, (200 copies), printed by Wallace Berman. Published as Semina 3.
(Clements A2)

3. McClure, Michael. FOR ARTAUD
mcclure_forartaudFirst edition:
New York: Totem Press, June 1959
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 12 pages, (750 copies). Published as Blue Plate #2.
(Clements A3)

4. McClure, Michael. WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DEEP CLOUD
First edition:
(San Francisco): (Wallace Berman), (1959)
Broadside, 3.5″ x 4.25″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Laid into Semina 4.
(Clements C14)


5. McClure, Michael. HYMNS TO ST. GERYON AND OTHER POEMS
mcclure_hymnsFirst edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, October 1959
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 7.25″ x 10″, 62 pages, (950 copies), letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood. Cover illustration by McClure.
(Clements A4, Auerhahn 4)

6. McClure, Michael. FUCK DEATH *
First edition:
(San Francisco): privately printed, (1959)
Folded card, 5″ x 3.5″.
(Clements A5)

7. McClure, Michael. !THE FEAST!
First edition:
San Francisco: The Batman Gallery, 1960
Side-stapled printed sheets, 8.5″ x 11″, 14 pages, mimeograph [?] printed. A working script of the play performed at The Batman Gallery on Thursday, December 22, 1960.
(Clements A6)

8. McClure. Michael. WE ARE IMPERVIOUS…
First edition:
(Los Angeles): (Wallace Berman), (1960)
Broadside, 4″ x 6.25″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman. Laid into Semina 5.
(Clements C17)


9. McClure, Michael. THE NEW BOOK / A BOOK OF TORTURE
First edition:
New York: Grove Press, August 1961
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 64 pages, (4,000 copies). Photo of McClure on rear wrapper by Wallace Berman.
(Clements A7)

10. McClure, Michael. PILLOW *
First edition:
New York: New York Poets Theatre, October 1961
Side-stapled in printed wrapper, 8.5″ x 11″, 7 pages, photocopy printed. A working script of the play produced by the New York Poets Theatre at the Off-Bowery Gallery in New York City in October and November 1961.
(Clements A8)

11. McClure, Michael. SPONTANEOUS HYMN TO KUNDALINI
First edition:
(New Orleans): (Loujon Press), (Fall 1961)
Broadside, 5.75″ x 9″, letterpress printed by Jon and Louise Webb. An offprint from The Outsider, Vol. 1, No.1.
(not in Clements)

12. McClure, Michael. DARK BROWN
mcclure_darkbrowna. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, Winter 1961
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6″x 9″, 56 pages, 725 copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood and Andrew Hoyem.
(Clements A9, Auerhahn 13)

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, Winter 1961
Hardcover in gilt-stamped cloth-bound boards, 6″ x 9″, 56 pages, 25 numbered and signed copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood and Andrew Hoyem, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. (Clements A9, Auerhahn 13)

c. Prospectus:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press,  (1961)
Postcard announcement, 6″ x 3.25″, letterpress printed.
(not in Clements)

13. McClure, Michael. MEAT SCIENCE ESSAYS
First edition:
San Francisco: City Lights Books, June 1963
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 84 pages, (3,000 copies).  Author photo by Ettore Sotsass.
(Clements A10, Cook 41)

14. McClure, Michael. GRAHHR SHEET
First edition:
(San Francisco): privately printed, (1963)
Broadside, 6.25″ x 2″, letterpress printed.
(Clements A11)

Note: according to Clements, copies were given away by the author as tickets at readings in San Francisco and at the University of California at Berkeley. [These were used as tickets for the performance of ¡The Feast! at the Batman Gallery in 1960.]

15. McClure, Michael. TWO FOR BRUCE CONNER
First edition:
(San Francisco): Oyez Press, 1964
Broadside, 12″ x 17.5″, 500 copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood at the Auerhahn Press. Published as Oyez #1.
(Clements A12)

16. McClure, Michael. POETRY IS A MUSCULAR PRINCIPLE
First edition:
(Los Angeles): privately printed, 1964
Broadside, 8.5″ x 5.5″. Photograph of McClure by Wallace Berman; make-up by Robert LaVigne. Beneath the photo is a statement by McClure beginning “Poetry is a muscular principle…”
(Clements A13)

17. McClure, Michael. BLUE-BLACK... *
First edition:
(Los Angeles): privately printed, (Summer 1964)
Broadside, 7.5″ x 2.5″. Contains one-line poem: “BLUE-BLACK SPACE RAINBOW GRAHHR”.
(Clements A14)

18. McClure, Michael. THE BLOSSOM: OR BILLY THE KID
mcclure_blossomFirst edition:
New York: American Theatre for Poets, 1964
Side-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 26 pages, mimeograph printed. A working script of the play.
(Clements A15)

19. McClure, Michael. GHOST TANTRAS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco:  privately printed, 1964
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 108 pages, 1480 copies, cover photo of McClure by Wallace Berman.
(Clements A16)

b. First edition, signed copies: 
Hardcover in gilt-stamped cloth-bound boards in illustrated dust jacket, 109 pages, 20 numbered and signed copies, cover photo of McClure by Wallace Berman.
(Clements A16)

20. McClure, Michael. DOUBLE MURDER! VAHROOOOOOOHR!
First edition:
(Los Angeles): (Wallace Berman), 1964
Broadside, 3″ x 4.75″, (200 copies). Contained in a small manila envelope bearing an altered photograph of Jack Ruby at the point of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald. Published as Semina 9.
(Clements A17)

21. McClure, Michael. LOVE LION, LIONESS *
a. First edition, poster:
(San Francisco):  privately printed, (1964)
Poster, 28″ x 22″, 350 copies printed in the style of a boxing poster.
(Clements A18)

b. First edition, flyer:
(San Francisco):  privately printed, (1964)
Flyer, 11″ x 8.5″, 70 copies printed in black in the style of a boxing poster.
(Clements A18)

c. First edition, tickets:
(San Francisco):  privately printed, (1964)
Tickets, 5.5″ x 2.25″, printed in the style of theater tickets for the fictitious event.
(Clements A18)

22. McClure, Michael. 13 MAD SONNETS
mcclure_13madFirst edition:
Milan: East 128, 1964
Saddle-stapled and tipped in to printed dust jacket, 8.5″ x 11″, 28 pages, 299 numbered copies (plus 16 for the author’s use). Author photo by Ettore Sotsass Jr.
(Clements A19)

23. McClure, Michael. THE BEARD
First edition:
(San Francisco):  privately printed, April 1965
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 13″, 71 pages, 350 copies planned, 330 produced (only 75 for sale).
(Clements A20)

24. McClure, Michael. POISONED WHEAT
mcclure_poisoneda. First edition, regular copies:
(San Francisco):  (Oyez Press), April 1965
Saddle-stapled in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 5.75″ x 7.75″, 16 pages, 576 copies.
(Clements A21)

b. First edition, signed copies:
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards in photo-illustrated dust jacket, 5.75″ x 7.75″, 16 pages, 24 copies lettered alpha through omega and signed by the author. Bound by Dorothy Hawley.
(Clements A21)

25. McClure, Michael. UNTO CAESAR
mcclure_untoFirst edition:
(San Francisco): (Dave Haselwood), (1965)
Hand-sewn in printed and collaged wrappers, 6.5″ x 4″,  24 pages, (60 copies), letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood.
(Haselwood 1)

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

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

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

29. McClure, Michael. LOVE LION BOOK
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 21 pages, 1000 copies. Published as Writing 11.

b. First edition, numbered and signed copies:
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1966
Hardcover in printed paper-bound boards with gilt-stamped cloth backstrip, 6″ x 9″, 21 pages, 40 numbered and signed copies.
Published as Writing 11.

30. McClure, Michael. POISONED WHEAT
mcclure_poisonedFirst edition, second printing:
San Francisco:  Coyote, 1966
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers. 5.75″ x 7.75″, 16 pages, 5000 copies. Distributed by City Lights Books.


31. McClure, Michael. MEAT SCIENCE ESSAYS
Second expanded edition:
San Francisco: City Lights Books, June 1966
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 120 pages.
(not in Cook)

Note: This expanded edition contains three essays not found in the 1963 publication: “Phi Upsilon Kappa”, “Defense of Jayne Mansfield”, and “Reason”.

32. McClure, Michael. THE BEARD *
a. First Coyote edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Coyote, 1967
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 82 pages,  4960 copies, cover art by Wes Wilson, introduction by Norman Mailer.

b. First Coyote edition, numbered and signed copies:
Specially-bound, 82 pages,  40 numbered and signed copies, cover art by Wes Wilson, introduction by Norman Mailer.

33. McClure, Michael. THE BEARD *
First Grove Press edition:
New York: Grove Press/Black Cat, 1967
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 96 pages.

Note: two different covers were issued.

34. McClure, Michael. WAR IS DECOR IN MY CAVERN CAVE *
First edition:
San Francisco: Communication Company, 1967
Broadside, 8.5″ x 11″, mimeograph printed.




35. McClure, Michael. THE BLOSSOM, OR BILLY THE KID *
First edition:
Milwaukee: Great Lakes Books, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (the first 10 signed).


36. McClure, Michael. FREEWHEELIN FRANK
First edition:
New York: Grove Press, 1967
Hardcover in gilt-stamped cloth bound board in illustrated dust jacket, 7.75″ x 9.75″, 160 pages.

Note: First hand account of the Hell’s Angels as told by their secretary Frank Reynolds.

37. McClure, Michael. HAIL THEE WHO PLAY *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, August 1968
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 233 numbered and signed copies.

b. First edition, hardcover copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, August 1968
Hardcover in printed paper-bound boards with cloth backstrip with printed paper label, 75 numbered and signed copies, each with an original drawing by the author.

38. McClure, Michael. LITTLE ODES: Jan – March 1961 *
First edition:
New York: Poets Press, 1968
Hand-sewn in printed and illustrated wrappers, 150 numbered and signed copies.

39. McClure, Michael. THE SERMONS OF JEAN HARLOW AND 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, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood.
(Haselwood 17)

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

40. McClure, Michael. MUSCLED APPLE SWIFT
First edition:
Los Angeles: Love Press, 1968
Hand-sewn in illustrated wrappers, 16 pages, 150 copies (63 of which are numbered and signed), cover art by George Herms.

41. McClure, Michael. GRAHHR APRIL GRHARRR APRIL
First edition:
(Buffalo): (Gallery Upstairs Press), (1968)
Broadside, 28.5″ x 21.25″, offset lithography printed.

42. McClure, Michael. GREETINGS
First edition:
London: Cape Goliard Press, 1968
Broadside, 11″ x 12″.

43. McClure, Michael. HYMNS TO ST. GERYON & DARK BROWN
a. First edition, regular copies:
London: Cape Goliard, 1969
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers.

b. First edition, hardcover copies:
London: Cape Goliard, 1969
Hardcover in gilt-stamped cloth-bound boards in illustrated dust jacket.

Note: two titles previously published by Auerhahn Press, published here dos-a-dos. Illustrated and with cover art by Wallace Berman.

44. McClure, Michael. LITTLE ODES AND THE RAPTORS *
a. First edition, regular copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press,  March 1969
Perfect-bound illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 43 pages, 1000 copies.

b. First edition, numbered copies:
Hardcover in paper-covered boards with cloth backstrip and paper label, 6.75″ x 9.5″, 43 pages, 200 copies numbered and signed.

c. First edition, lettered copies:
Hardcover in gold stamped leather-bound boards, 6.75″ x 9.5″, 43 pages, 26 copies lettered and signed with each with an original drawing by the author.

45. McClure, Michael. THE SURGE *
Columbus, OH: Frontier Press, 1969

46. McClure, Michael. LION FIGHT *
New York: Pierrepont Press, 1969

47. McClure, Michael. GHOST TANTRAS
San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1969

48. McClure, Michael. PLANE POMES *
New York: Phoenix Book Shop, 1969

49. McClure, Michael. THE SHELL *
London: Cape Goliard, 1969

50. McClure, Michael. MUSCLED APPLE SWIFT *
Sacramento: Runcible Spoon, 1969

51. McClure, Michael. TO JAMES B. RECTOR *
San Francisco: Privately Published, 1969

52. McClure, Michael. LIBERATION *
Oakland: Mills College Tape Music Center, 1969

[* not in archive]

Auerhahn Press: Books & Pamphlets

>> return to AUERHAHN PRESS main page >>

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_wentley1
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
wieners_wentley2
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
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_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
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_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
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)

David Meltzer

beatphotolg
Wallace Berman, Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, 1964

David Meltzer was born in Rochester, New York, and raised in Brooklyn. He began his literary career during the San Francisco Beat and Berkeley Renaissance period in California, and his work was included in the anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960. At the age of 20 he recorded his poetry with jazz musicians in Los Angeles and also became a singer-songwriter and guitarist for several bands during the 1960s, including The Serpent Power. He is the author of over 40 volumes of poetry, and has also published fiction and essays, and has edited numerous anthologies and collections of interviews.


David Meltzer Checklist:

Section A: Books and Broadsides
Section B: Contributions to Books and Other Publications
Section C: Contributions to Periodicals
Section D: Publications Edited and Published


Meltzer taught in the humanities and poetics programs at the New College of California in San Francisco for 30 years. In 2008, he received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. He was also given the Bay Area Guardian’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2012 was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry.

Diane di Prima has said, “David Meltzer is a hidden adept, one of the secret treasures on our planet. Great poet, musician, comic; mystic unsurpassed, performer with few peers.”


References Consulted:

Bohn, Dave. OYEZ: THE AUTHORIZED CHECKLIST
Berkeley: n.p., 1997

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

Kherdian, David. DAVID MELTZER: A SKETCH FROM MEMORY AND DESCRIPTIVE CHECKLIST
Berkeley: Oyez, 1965

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

Morrow, Bradford and Seamus Cooney. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BLACK SPARROW PRESS, 1966-1978
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1981


Online Resources:

· Big Bridge – tribute to David Meltzer