COMPLETE RUN OF ICONIC BEAT MAGAZINE
ROSENTHAL, Irving, and Paul CARROLL (editors). Big Table: Five Volumes. Chicago: Big Table. 1959-1960.
Five volumes, 8vo. Periodical with illustrated wrappers; Vol. IV containing Franz Kline "Mister" (1959) pamphlet; three loosely inserted 'Business Reply Cards' for subscription wihtin Vol. V; pp. 152, [+6 ads], 122, [+1ad]. 119, [+ 2 ads], 131, [+ 2 ads], 125, [+1ad]; foxing to bottom edge of Vol. I with vertical creasing and significant fading to spine, rubbing to spine of Vol. II and toning of pages, spotting to spine of Vol. III continuing to rear wrapper, spotting to spine and front wrapper of Vol. IV, foxing to both wrappers of Vol. V, very good.
First edition full five-volume set of the iconic Beat generation magazine.
Big Table was established in the Spring of 1959 following the suppression of the Winter 1958 issue of The Chicago Review. This came after the publication of an article in The Chicago Daily News which exposed the agenda of editors Irving Rosenthal and Paul Carroll to promote the works of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William Burroughs, among other controversial transgressive writers, provind catalyst to the magazines demise.
Subsequently, Rosenthal and Carroll used the censored material to set up Big Table and edited the first issue. The first issue contains work by William Burroughs and crucially, episodes from his seminal Naked Lunch, as well as featuring many contributions by members of the Beat generation. Volume One includes the first appearance in print of Kerouac’s Old Angel Midnight. Also sections from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch and some of Gregory Corso’s most powerful poems: "Power", "Army" and "Police". An unsuccessful obscenity lawsuit ensued and Big Table thrived throughout the 1960s with five issues, all included here as a collection.
Other issues feature the works of profiles such as Artaud, Robert Creeley, John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara and Kenneth Koch.
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