Radical Literature

Russell, David; Michèle Hoare and Edward Rosen [Editors]. New Leaf No. 2. London: Humanities Society, Chelsea College, [ca. 1974]. First Edition. Octavo (8 1/4 x 6 inches; 210 x 152 mm), 39, [1] pages in green stapled wrappers (soft cover).INSCRIBED on the inside front cover by David Russell, one of the editors.A scarce issue of New Leaf, which was published by the Humanities Society at Chelsea College in London in the 1970s and early '80s. New Leaf published articles and poems with Situationist themes. This issue includes essays by Guy Debord and Attila Kotány (two of the key figures in Situationism), an interesting introduction to Situationism by "Jacques Lefataliste," and poems by James Corbett, William Fitzgerald, J.M. Hough, David Russell, and Peter Collenette. There's even a comic strip as well as a crossword puzzle. Cover and layout design by Michèle Hoare.The magazine is undated, but it is INSCRIBED on the inside front cover by David Russell, who has dated this in 1974. OCLC shows holdings… Read More

Düsseldorf: Free International University, 1979. Small Quarto (11 inches / 280 mm), [26] pages in side-stapled wrappers (soft cover).German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) appeals for a third way between capitalism and communism. His appeal originally appeared in German in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper on December 23, 1978. This volume, appearing the following year, presents dueling English translations of his text by R.C. Hay and B. Kleer. SCARCE. CONDITION: Some toning around the edges, a bit of soiling to the front wrapper, internally clean. A Very Good copy.

New York: New York Committee for the General Strike for Peace, 1961-1963. A collection of nine rare leaflets and letters concerning the General Strike for Peace, which in the early 1960s sought a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons as well as global disarmament. This material belonged to Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004), poet, performance artist, and peace activist.Eight of these items were issued by the New York Committee for the General Strike for Peace, for which Mac Low was one of the organizers. (Julian Beck and Judith Malina of the Living Theatre were also organizers.) The collection also includes a letter from the Committee for Nonviolent Action. The General Strike for Peace consisted of three different phases, the first of which took place in early 1962, followed by additional calls to strike in November 1962 and then again in May 1963. On January 29, 1962, more than 300 people marched down Fifth Avenue in New York calling for a worldwide general strike for peace. The New York Times was there:… Read More

Illustrated. 8vo. Original black cloth in pictorial dust wrapper. Harper & Brothers, New York (1959). First Edition. One of a limited number of advance presentation copies for friends of the author and publisher, signed by Stevenson. Dust wrapper slightly soiled and chipped, o/w Very Nice.

New York: The Radical Theatre Repertory, Inc, 1969. 1st edition. Soft cover. Fine/No Jacket (as issued). Near Fine. 8vo, 12pp, stapled self-cover. A rare program from this peak-period Living Theatre performance series in Berkeley and San Francisco, early 1969, including Frankenstein and Paradise Now. (An LA performance of Paradise Now that happened between the Berkeley and San Francisco engagements was a famous influence on Doors singer Jim Morrison.) Unmarked copy, minor wear.

Wm. Crosby and H.P. Nichols, Boston, 1851; First Edition; 8vo (5 1/2" x 9"), 38 pages; printed wraps. Impassioned oration delivered at Boston’s Melodeon theater by leading 19th century Unitarian minister, Transcendentalist, and social and religious reformer, Theodore Parker. Styled a sermon for Thanksgiving Day, it is in actuality a vehement exhortation against the recently enacted federal Fugitive Slave Law, in retaliation for which Parker had two months previously in this same hall advocated the killing of arresting officers by captured fugitives as justifiable self-defense, igniting a firestorm of condemnation which he here attempts to quell. No stranger to controversy, Parker once notoriously vilified patriot Daniel Webster for his courage in supporting the nation-saving Compromise of 1850, and his radical religious views, particularly on the nature of Jesus, had already led to the disaffection of a large number of Unitarian laity, the denial of a pulpit by his fellow clergy, and the… Read More

New York: Partisan Review, 1935. 1st edition. Soft cover. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). Near VG. 8vo, 96pp, printed wrappers. Rare early issue, includes writing by Kenneth Patchen, James T. Farrell, et al. Unmarked copy, a bit of outer soil and wear to lap edges.

New York: Partisan Review, 1935. 1st edition. Soft cover. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). Near VG. 8vo, 96pp, printed wrappers. Rare early issue, includes writing by Nelson Algren, Muriel Rukeyser, et al. Unmarked copy, chip at lead of spine, a bit of wear to lap edges, last two leaves have some edge tearing.

San Lorenzo, Calif.: Shameless Hussy Press., 1971. Near Fine, a few small spots to wrappers. 48 unnumbered pages, illustrations by Martha Krech. SCARCE, no other copies of any of the numbers in current commerce (there appear to have been 5 published between 1969-1974), WorldCat locates 3 copies of #3, at USC, Harvard, and University of Waterloo. Founded in Oakland in 1969 by Alta Gerrey, Shameless Hussy Press was the first feminist press in the US. . First Printing. Pictorial Stapled Wrappers. Near Fine/No Jacket, As Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Buffalo, NY: LeMar International, 1969. 1st edition. Soft cover. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). VG+. 4to, 24pp, self-cover. The rare third issue of this pioneering journal of marijuana reform, edited by Mike Aldrich and Ed Sanders. Includes a cover photo of Tim Leary, other interesting content. Solid unmarked copy, light outer spotting.

London: Lovebooks Ltd, 1965. 1st edition. Soft cover. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). VG+ (but 1 page printed blank and provided in photocopy). 8vo, 80pp, printed wrappers. A key underground magazine from 1965 London and New York: Allen Ginsberg on cover and substantial (27pp) inside content, New York editor Ted Berrigan contributes 2 poems (Shipwrecks and Tooting My Horn on Duty) and 1 collaboration with Ron Padgett; also work by future Cream lyricist Pete Brown, Tuli Kupferberg, and Archie Shepp, et al. Scarce; this was an important precursor of the seminal sixties underground newspaper The International Times, and was edited by Miles and John Hoppy Hopkins (the latter credited with advertising). Includes a notice of the future opening of the Indica gallery. A solid unmarked copy with a little toning and wear, but one page of the Ginsberg poem was misprinted blank (a photocopy of missing page is provided).

New York: Partisan Review / The John Reed Club of New York, 1934. 1st edition. Soft cover. Good /No Jacket (as issued). Good+. 8vo, 64pp, printed wrappers. The historic first issue of one of the most important American literary and intellectual reviews, includes writing by James T. Farrell, Edwin Rolfe, et al. A moderately worn copy, small chip to spine, general wear and soil, a few early pages have pencil marginalia.

Here is the incredibly rare, first edition of "Waiting for Nothing" by Tom Kromer, the classic hardboiled narrative of being on the "bum" during the Great Depression.
This is the notorious British edition, first state, with Chapter Four excised and replaced by a five-page apology from the publisher, Constable & Company. It seems that the reference to homosexuality in 1935 was too much of a risk in the publisher's view. (Casciato and West, in their Afterward to "Waiting for Nothing and Other Writings" by University of Georgia Press in 1986, say that Constable later issued an unexpurgated version of the same edition, with Chapter Four included. So this copy is the true first.)
Also featured are an Introduction by Theodore Dreiser, a frontispiece photograph of Kromer (with a classic tissue separator to prevent offsetting), a five-page autobiography by the author, and advertising for other books including Nelson Algren's first novel "Somebody in Boots." None of these features are in the American edition… Read More

New York: The League of Militant Poets, 1962. 1st edition. Soft cover. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). VG+. 8vo, 128pp, printed wrappers. The first and only issue of this Leftist literary review with a particular focus on Cuba. (Spanish-language poetry is presented in facing-page translation; prose appears in English.) Unmarked copy, light wear and soil.

London: Hamish Hamilton. 7th imp. (April 1948). 69pp. VG/VG copy, binding square and tight, internally excellent, jacket has a small chipped loss to head of spine and a couple of tiny nicks, now preserved in archival jacket protector . Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 1948.