RAGAS - INSCRIBED TO JACK KEROUAC
San Francisco: Discovery Books, 1959. First Edition. Item #7410
One of ca.1,500 copies. Slim octavo (21.5cm); original pictorial card wrappers, stapled; [56]pp. Jack Kerouac's copy, with the circular embossed stamp and ink rubber-stamp from his estate on the title page, and inscribed to him by Meltzer on the preliminary blank: "9-16-59 / Dear Jack – Not the complete thing, just a peepshow of my work's nature + intent. I've still got much to do + will do it, but with patience. Love! / David Meltzer." A tiny stain toward left edge of front wrapper, else a clean, Near Fine copy. Housed in a custom clamshell case.
The poet's first solo publication, preceded by the his 1957 chapbook Poems, co-authored with Donald Schenker. Meltzer (1937-2016) was a Beat poet and musician, and a prominent figure of the San Francisco Renaissance. While we find almost no correspondence between he and Kerouac in the literature, they certainly operated in overlapping circles, and their work was published together in any number of little magazines like Beatitude, Yugen, and Notes From Underground. 1959 was a busy year for Kerouac, with the publication of his books Doctor Sax, Mexico City Blues, Excerpts From Visions of Cody, Maggie Cassidy, the screenplay for Pull My Daisy, and of his introduction to the American edition of Robert Frank's The Americans. We suspect this copy was mailed by Meltzer to the Gilbert, New York home Kerouac shared with his mother. A compelling association: Meltzer, at the beginning of his long career, with a gift of early work to one of the elder statesmen of the Beat Generation. Kherdian 2.
Price: $3,500.00