HYMN TO THE REBEL CAFE - INSCRIBED TO ISRAEL YOUNG, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED
Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1993. First Edition. A substantial collection of poems by this venerable counterculture figure and musician, many of which first appeared in the pages of Notus, Long Shot, Sulfur, The World, Heartland, and San Francisco Magazine, et al. A significant copy from the collection of Israel Goodman Young (1928-2019), long-time proprietor of the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village, once a major nexus for literature and the arts. Young's relationship with Sanders spanned five decades on two continents. Sanders writes fondly of him in his memoir Fug You: "Israel Young, who ran the Folklore Center, a cultural center frequented by many folksingers and musicians, became a friend. I used his mimeograph to print an issue of Fuck You. I knew him as a great supporter of the avant-garde..." (p.106). Indeed, Sanders would read his poetry at the Folklore Center, and the first Fugs concert was held at their new location, on Sixth Avenue and West Third Street in 1965. Young's interaction with the text here is extensive: on the final three pages, his memories pour out, touching on Sanders's poetry (Rebel Cafe and Cemetery Hill), Janis Joplin, Edgar Lee Masters and the Spoon River Anthology, Camus, Jack Hirschman, the Trieste Cafe, and the state of a project underway thanks for a grant from Jerry Garcia's Rex Foundation. Most significantly, he adds a full holograph stanza to the opening poem, "Hymn to the Rebel Cafe": "And tonight, at Spegelteatern / Ed Sanders and I would agree / that Cafe Cino and Cafe Wha / and the Gaslight were great / Rebel Cafes at that time, and / are long gone but we are / both happy that the Rebel / Cafe is alive here tonight / as well as tomorrow, too / All hail to Spegelteatern." Item #4587
First Printing, wrappered issue. Octavo (22.75cm); pictorial wrappers; [10],11-194,[6]pp. Israel Young's copy, inscribed to him by Sanders on the half-title page (p.10): "For Izzie & all the good times / Love, Ed / 1994." Apparently one of Sanders's own copies, with his hand-written name and Woodstock, NY address on s slip of lined notebook paper mounted to rear endpaper, and the following note in Young's hand at upper margin of inner rear wrapper: "Israel G. Young, Stockholm, 14 Sept. 1994 / from Ed Sanders." Extensively annotated by Young, who filled the terminal blanks with a full 3pp holograph missive in his characteristic tight hand. Modest wear to extremities, a few faint splash marks to front wrapper and rear endpaper, with front endpaper partially detached; Very Good.
Price: $650.00