Books

First Printing. Quarto (28.75cm); light brown cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine, and the three-fish-one-head symbol embossed onto front cover; dustjacket; xiv,[2],3-194pp; illus. Inscribed by Ginsberg a few months after publication on the front endpaper: "For Diane Di Prima / from Old Faithful / New York City / February 3, 1987 / Allen Ginsberg." Very faint dampstain to upper right corner of rear cover, else a clean, Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $22.50), with light wear to extremities, a few paperclip impressions to upper front panel, with a faint dampstain affecting the upper 1.75" of the spine and upper panels (noticeable chiefly on verso), and a small closed tear to lower front flap fold; Very Good+. The 30th Anniversary Edition of Howl, annotated through by Ginsberg, including a wealth of previously unpublished material, correspondence, and facsimiles of variant versions. A distinguished copy, inscribed to fellow Beat poet and publisher Diane Di Prima (1934-2020), whose association with Ginsberg dates back to the late 1950s in Greenwich Village. Bill Morgan, Ginsberg's biographer, cites Di Prima as one of Ginsberg's few close female friendships. Over the course of four decades, they regularly were published together (eg. in Floating Bear and Yugen) and supported each others' work. She and Ginsberg shared a Buddhist faith, and together with Anne Waldman, she was instrumental in helping him during the early days of the Naropa Institute. We have seen no shortage of signed and inscribed copies of this particular edition, but have seen precious few inscribed to any of the principal Beat figures. Morgan A51.a1.1.

Howl and Other Poems is a collection of poetry by Allen Ginsberg published in 1956. It contains Ginsberg's most famous poem, 'Howl', which is considered to be one of the principal works of the Beat Generation along with other notable poems.