Bob Dylan's inspiration
COHEN, Ira (editor); Jack SMITH (photography). GNAOUA Number One. Tangier, Morocco. Spring 1964.
Magenta printed card wrappers designed by Rosalind Schwartz, spine lettered in black; pp. 103, with 5 black and white photographic plates; covers unevenly sunned as often, clean within, overall a very good copy; contemporary ownership signature in pencil to front free endpaper.
[offered with:] DYLAN, Bob. Bringing It All Back Home. 11-track stereo LP record. Columbia Records. 2021 [originally released 1965].
First and only issue of GNAOUA, the cult-favourite literary journal from Tangier, edited by poet, photographer, and filmmaker Ira Cohen.
This debut and sole edition of GNAOUA features an essay by underground filmmaker Jack Smith, titled ‘Superstars of Cinemaroc’, accompanied by five black-and-white photographic plates from Smith’s experimental film Flaming Creatures (1963). The issue also includes contributions from prominent Beat authors such as Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, and William S. Burroughs.
GNAOUA Number One notably appeared on Bob Dylan’s mantelpiece on the cover of his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home (1965), among other artefacts Dylan selected to honour his artistic influences. Burroughs, in particular, had a profound impact on Dylan’s writing during his first and most celebrated creative period.
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