GINSBERG, Allen. Siesta in Xbalba and Return to the States. Icy Cape, Alaska: Printed by the author. 1956
Small 4to (204 x 165 mm). Single gathering of twelve leaves, stapled twice to the left margin, the title page serving as upper wrapper, lettered in black; pp. 22; vertical crease through all leaves, small spot to the margins of the first four pages; a remarkably well-preserved example; near fine.
First and only edition, one of approximately 52 copies, signed by Allen Ginsberg in black ink to the title page; among the rarest separately published Beat publications, with very few copies remaining in circulation.
One of an estimated fifty-two copies produced by Ginsberg aboard ship off the coast of Alaska in July 1956. While delayed near Icy Cape awaiting the break-up of sea ice, he gained access to the vessel's mimeograph machine and printed the pamphlet himself between 26 and 27 July, distributing copies among friends and fellow travellers. The unusual circumstances of its production make Siesta in Xbalba one of the most elusive publications of Ginsberg's early career.
The poem was written in a school exercise book during Ginsberg's travels through Mexico in April and May 1954 and revised over the following months. Writing to Neal Cassady, he expressed a desire to make something lasting from his experiences in Chiapas. ‘Xbalba’ derives from Xibalba, the underworld of the K'iche' Maya epic Popol Vuh, and the poem interweaves Mayan mythology and spirituality with Ginsberg's developing search for transcendence, identity, and poetic vocation.
Predating the City Lights publication of Howl and Other Poems, the work is dedicated to Karena Shields (born Catherine Mary Plant, 1904–1972), with whom Ginsberg stayed at a cacao finca in the Chiapas jungle during 1954. Part of the poem was composed there, and the title preserves Shields's idiosyncratic spelling of ‘Xibalba’ as ‘Xbalba’. Ginsberg later encouraged Kerouac to seek her out during his own travels in Mexico, suggesting that she might install him in a ‘grass hut alone at village outskirt in the midst of forest’, an invitation that failed to entice him: ‘I don't want to see the Senora – I won't move from Bill's pad. I am hungup and very high on Mexican’.
No copies traced in the United Kingdom; not recorded by Library Hub.
Morgan A2.
SKU: 2124409