GINSBERG, Allen; Barry MILES (editor). Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions, Fully Annotated by Author, with Contemporaneous Correspondence, Account of First Public Reading, Legal Skirmishes, Precursor Texts & Bibliography. New York: Harper & Row. 1986.
4to. Publisher's oatmeal cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in dust jacket; pp. xiv, 194, illustrated throughout with photographs, facsimile typescripts, and reproduced manuscript material; fine.
First edition thus, presenting a comprehensive account of the composition and revision of Ginsberg's era-defining poem; an exceptional association copy, twice inscribed by Ginsberg to the documentary filmmaker Jerry Aronson (b. 1945), and additionally embellished with the author’s sunflower drawings.
Published to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Howl , this volume reproduces the poem's surviving drafts, notebooks, and typescripts, tracing the evolution of one of the defining works of post-war American literature. First issued by City Lights in 1956 as the fourth title in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Pocket Poets Series, Howl transformed Ginsberg's reputation and became one of the central texts of the Beat movement. The successful defence of the book against obscenity charges in 1957 established an important precedent for literary freedom in the United States.
This copy bears two substantial inscriptions to the documentary filmmaker Jerry Aronson, best known for The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg , first screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993. Aronson worked closely with Ginsberg over many years while producing the film, and the present volume preserves evidence of their friendship both before and after its completion. On the verso of the flyleaf Ginsberg writes: ‘Boulder Colorado for Jerry | Aronson | from | Allen Ginsberg | in hope | his love life flourishes better | than my own | at the moment. | March 7 1987 | Aetat 60’; while on the title page he adds: ‘for Jerry Aronson, our film completed, in hope his spiritual heart | love life flourishes as well | as my own this year. | Summer Solstice | June 21, 1996’.
The title page is further embellished with Ginsberg's characteristic sunflower drawings incorporating the letters ‘AH’, an allusion to Blake's poem ‘Ah! Sun-flower’ and, by extension, to Ginsberg's own ‘Sunflower Sutra’. At the base of the flowers appear calaveras , reflecting his longstanding fascination with Mexican culture and spirituality. Taken together, the inscriptions and drawings transform the volume from a documentary record of Howl ’s composition into a highly personal memento of one of Ginsberg's most significant creative and professional relationships.
SKU: 2124437