GINSBERG, Allen. Howl and other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books. 1956.
12mo. Publisher’s stiff black wrappers with wraparound white title label lettered in black, priced 75 cents in light blue to the rear cover; saddle-stitched with a single staple; pp. 44; spotting to title label, corners lightly creased; very good.
First edition, first impression, identifiable by the presence of Lucien Carr’s name on the dedication page; one of the landmark poetry collections of the twentieth century and a defining work of the Beat Generation.
The fourth title in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s (1919–2021) Pocket Poets Series, and Allen Ginsberg’s first formally published book, Howl and Other Poems stands among the defining works of post-war American literature. The collection opens with the title poem, whose candid treatment of sexuality, drug culture, and mental illness marked a radical break with prevailing poetic conventions. It is followed by several of Ginsberg’s most celebrated early poems, including the Blake-inspired ‘Sunflower Sutra’, ‘America’, and ‘A Supermarket in California’.
Published in October 1956, the volume became the centre of one of the most consequential censorship cases in modern American literary history. In 1957, Ferlinghetti and Shigeyoshi Murao, manager of City Lights Bookstore, were arrested for publishing and selling the book. The ensuing obscenity trial culminated in a ruling that Howl was not obscene, a landmark decision that significantly expanded legal protections for literary freedom and freedom of expression in the United States.
Cook, 4; Morgan, A3.a1.1.
SKU: 2124379