ROTHENBERG, Jerome. New Young German Poets. San Francisco: City Lights Books. 1959.
Small 4to. Original Navy and White paper wrappers; $1 price mark on top left edge of rear wrapper; pp. [10], 11-63; slightly toned on front and back wrappers as well as spine, rubbing and loss to spine end, sewn signatures coming a little undone, early ownership signature to verso of front wrapper, otherwise a very good copy.
First edition, first printing.
Like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, being in control of his own publications was the one means Rothenberg could express his voice. This led him to set up ,The Hawks Well Press in 1959 with which he published his own first collection of poetry, White Sun Black Sun.
A series of radical translations, New Young German Poets, however, was his first ever book of poems and Number Eleven in the iconic Pocket Poets Series. Lawrence Ferlinghetti established The Pocket Poet series in the summer of 1955. The series is well established in literary counterculture due to its historical publishing of Allen Ginsberg's long poem, "Howl", which led to an obscneity charge against publisher Ferlinghetti.
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