NAMES OF PEOPLE - LENGTHILY INSCRIBED TO JOHN & BARBARA MARTIN, WITH ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY JESS COLLINS
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968. First Edition. The first collaborative work by Duncan and Jess to be produced by the press (and the third of ten volumes by Duncan published by John and Barbara Martin). Bertholf A27.c; Morrow & Cooney 45. Item #7171
Deluxe Issue, one of four copies specially bound and designated for the author, artist, publisher, and binder, this one marked "Publisher's Copy" and signed by Duncan and Jess on the colophon. Quarto (28.75cm); full natural beige calf, with titling and decorations stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; [4],5-37,[7]pp; illus. A full-page inscription to John and Barbara Martin – more of an original poem, really – appears on the verso of the colophon: "Wednesday / October 16 / For Barbara and John / Our do and derive pleasures / Once more / Blue makes los angeles brighter in blue / with room for a bay we return to her too / Barbara and John Martin are a new installation / In our remembrances / Two / We salute him among los Juans del pueblo / We salute Barbara with harmonica and banjo / We serenade a serene air and add an aid for memory / Spanish lessons from / We do not know Spanish / Later another Stein song sung in Spanish / Barbara and Juan Martin in disguise / Add to our names of people / This is a Martin disguised as a swallow / Black as a sparrow / Which sparrow / In leather / For size / A large and de luxe Sparrow / RD." On the opposing page is a full-page original composition by Jess Collins, involving ink illustrations of musicians playing the banjo and harmonica, and a woman on a balcony being serenaded by a large black sparrow, standing atop a pile of books; five sections of cut-and-pasted text have been incorporated into the artwork, which compliments Duncan's poem beautifully and harmoniously. Gentle sunning to spine, upper and lower board edges, with some mild rubbing to spine ends and lower corners; contents fresh; Near Fine in a Very Good+ dustjacket.
Price: $4,500.00