LOVER OF ROBER GRAVES ATTEMPTED SUICIDE IN 1927 SAID SHE WOULD NEVER WRITE ANOTHER POEM

A POEM : HOW A POEM CAME TO BE. A Lovely BROADSIDE POEM by LAURA RIDING JACKSON.

SIGNED by LAURA RIDING JACKSON at the end of her poem, beneath her printed name.

Published by [Lord John Press, 1980]. Presentation Copy - Presentation Copies are normally printed prior to numbered copies, making them quite hard to find. Subsequently printed in a limited edition of only 150 numbered copies.

Broadside, printed on fine, heavy stock, watermarked paper (Arches, France), deckled top and bottom edges, 15x22 inches.

NEAR FINE condition, a bright and beautiful copy. Would look great mounted and/or framed.

From the Broadside: "Within a very few years of the publication of my Collected Poems (1938)... I renounced further trying the way of poetry... saying: I would write no more poems - and I wrote no more poems... (however) I wrote for (a close friend), in the 1978 Christmastime, a poem, marked as a poem for him only, giving it the title HOW A POEM CAME TO BE. I kept no copy of this privately written and given poem, and forgot the writing and the giving of it... I chanced, recently, to tell my friend of receiving a request for a poem to publish in broadside form from the Lord John Press, indicating my feeling some surprise that Mr. Yellin, the Press's director, should not have been aware that FOR FORTY YEARS there had been NO NEW POEMS of mine. But my friend reminded me that about a year ago there HAD been a new poem - the one I wrote for him; and he urged me to let him release it to me from its private status of being a poem for him only... I give here the poem, given him, to be out in the world..."

LAURA RIDING JACKSON, 1901-1991, was an iconoclastic American Poet. She left New England at the age of 25 to live with ROBERT GRAVES and his wife, Nancy Nicholson. The triangle did not suit her, and Laura Riding tried to commit suicide in 1927. Thereafter Robert Graves divorced his wife and lived together with Laura Riding in Majorca, France, England and Switzerland, and even went with her when she returned to the United States. They bitterly broke up in 1939. In 1941 Laura Riding Jackson renounced poetry, married Schuyler B. Jackson, and lived quietly with him in Wabasso, Florida, until her death in 1991. In the 60s, 70s and 80s she wrote a number of pieces explaining her reasons for renouncing poetry, but no poetry. This is apparently THE ONLY POEM written by Laura Riding Jackson since 1941.

You can read much more about LAURA RIDING on Wikipedia and elsewhere on the Internet.

This Large and Lovely BROADSIDE will be shipped carefully rolled in a sturdy mailing tube.

BEATITUDE #8 Bob Kaufman Jail Poems, + Ginsberg, Meltzer, Weiss, Ferlinghetti, et al BREAD & WINE MISSION S.F. 1959

BEATITUDE #8. Published by the BREAD & WINE MISSION, San Francisco, 1959. Includes Jail Poems by Bob Kaufman and poetry by many others.

Twenty four (24) mimeographed leaves printed on one side only, including the cover sheet which is blue, 8.5x11 inches, side stapled.

Beatitude was printed at the Bread & Wine Mission in San Francisco, a hub of counterculture and beat poetry. Printed on simple mimeograph machines by the poets themselves, few copies of the early issues remain.

GOOD condition: The front cover printed face and stars of this copy have been shaded in with pencil - perhaps before being distributed (this was printed by the crazy Beats, after all), perhaps by the owner - giving the printed face the nice look of a person of color. There is an R written at the top left corner of the front cover. The pages have some toning, there is a variation in the intensity of the mimeo printing, and the mimeo process has left some smudges; one poem has a couple margin marks noting a passage and "Plato's allegory?" written in the margin beside the passage; overall a complete, solid, nice copy.

SCARCE BEATITUDE printed in 1959 at the BREAD & WINE MISSION in San Francisco.

From the first page:

******In the snakepit of our city jail, with a man next to him dying unattended and himself sick from having been stamped upon by a public SERVANT, Kaufman writes his poems of suffering and compassionate identification. Their immediacy characterizes much of the poetry here printed. Margolis adds his poem of protest. The two poems are "confiscated" from the window of the bagel shop by officer 67. Ed Freeman, descending on the beach [North Beach, San Francisco] for a week. makes some great scenes performing his poems and adds his sympathy to both the black and the blue. Ginsberg sends a telegram but his poem on sakyamuni counsels more. Beatitude changes offices, we run through three bad mimeo machines, finally get a good one. At last, with many poems we find beautiful to print and a good percentage of the poets out of jail, we resume our publication at the bread and wine mission, corner greenwich and grant or at various outlets on the beach.******

About the BREAD & WINE MISSION (From a 2021 Issue of Outside Lands - Journal of San Francisco History):

******Despite the place's obscurity today, the Bread and Wine Mission played a substantial role in the Beat scene by providing a space where poets, artists and intellectuals could commune and make their ideas manifest. [The article includes a photo with the caption: William Margolis, Eileen Kaufman, and Bob Kaufman printing Beatitude at the Bread and Wine Mission, April 1959.]******

THE DOWN OF A THISTLE Selected Poems, Prose Poems, and Songs by Margaret Esse Danner

SIGNED & INSCRIBED by African American Poet MARGARET ESSE DANNER

" For Al Birdsong / Margaret / Esse / Danner " in blue ink on the blank free front endpaper.

Published by Country Beautiful, Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1976. First edition. Hardcover in dustjacket, 144 pages. NEAR FINE CONDITION BOOK, un-price-clipped dustjacket has some small edge chips and the spine is lightly sunned.

In 1976 Margaret Esse Danner (1915-1984) published her final major work, The Down of a Thistle, which she dedicated to Black Poet Robert Hayden. Much of her poetry is about the relationship between Black Africa and Black America. Some poems are a homage to Langston Hughes, who also displayed a strong connection to his African heritage and inspired and influenced Danner throughout her life. Her message is one of hope but she did not trivialize the difficulty of being Black in America.

David Meltzer TENS Selected Poems, 1961-1971 (Publisher's advance uncorrected page proof)

SIGNED and INSCRIBED by DAVID MELTZER to his friend and publisher Robert Hawley, housed in a custom blue Morocco book form slipcase made especially for this work by notable London bookbinders Sangorski & Sutcliffe and sold through the J. W. Robinson Company, a southern California department store company which maintained a bespoke book department.

"27 May 73 / For the Hawleys / For the Beginnings / For Everything / Since then / Love from / The Meltzers"

Published by Herder and Herder, New York. Uncorrected page proof, stamp from "Crane Duplicating Service, Inc." on inside of back cover, 151 pages. VERY GOOD CONDITION: just some scrapes to the custom leather box, otherwise tight, bright, clean and unmarked. A rather unique signed presentation copy.

David Meltzer (1937-2016) San Francisco Renaissance and Beat Poet, Writer, Jewish Mystic and Jazz Guitarist.

THE OLD GLORY by Robert Lowell SIGNED & INSCRIBED

" For James Sanders / From / Robert Lowell (signed) / In Castine, In July / 1968 " in blue ink on the title page.

Published by Noonday Press, New York. Fourth Noonday Printing, 1967. Illustrated softcovers, 8.25" x 5.5", 193 pages GOOD CONDITION: tanning to the covers and inner pages, light wear to the covers, fading to the spine, light crease to spine, overall tight, bright, clean and unmarked. With a unique literary association to the New England coastal village of Castine, Maine where Robert Lowell inherited a house and summered for 15 years from 1955 to 1970 with his wife, writer Elizabeth Hardwick.

Robert Lowell (1917-1977) American Poet, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and celebrated as America's most famous living poet. He taught such luminaries as W. D. Snodgrass, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath. He set his famous poem "Skunk Hour" in Castine. The Old Glory consists of three plays adapted from works by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville and reflect the political turmoil of the 1960s

FOUR ISSUES OF OCCIDENT, U.C. BERKELEY'S LITERARY JOURNAL, 1957-1960. DIANE WAKOSKI was a student at UCB during those years, and in these issues she is a contributing poet, as well as an Editor and Manager of the literary journal. These issues contain some of her earliest poems.

Published by the Associated Students of the University of California, 1957-1960. First editions.

The OCCIDENT issues are:

FALL 1957. In this issue Wakoski is listed as being on the Editorial Staff;

SPRING 1958. Wakoski contributes two poems and is listed as Manager of the Publication;

WINTER 1958. Wakoski contributed three poems and is listed as the Editor of Occident;

WINTER 1950: Wakoski contributed two poems and is still listed as the Editor.

All four issues are in generally GOOD condition, some toning, some wear, soiling and creasing to the covers, overall still tight, bright and unmarked.

A nice collection of some of Diane Wakoski's earliest poetry, and a record of her working with poets and literary groups even as a young college student.

THE TREES. A BROADSIDE POEM by ADRIENNE RICH. ILLUSTRATED by JOAN GOGUEN.

Published by LOWELL HOUSE PRINTERS, The College Yard, CAMBRIDGE, May, 1964.

Limited Edition, this being 1 of only 75 copies. "This poem was hand-set and printed in 14-point Garamond Roman in an edition limited to 75 copies by the Lowell House Printers. Illustration by Joan Goguen. The College Yard, Cambridge, May, 1964".

Broadside with b&w illustration, printed on fine, watermarked, cream colored, rag paper, 12.5x17.5 inches. The watermark is an image of a hammer and anvil.

NEAR FINE condition. A light crease near the top edge, waviness to the edges where the broadside was "pulled" in the hand-press printing process, as normal. A Lovely Broadside.

This broadside came from the estate of Dennis C. Turner, a San Francisco Doctor who was a Friend of Many Poets and Artists, and who was also a Fine-Printer and broadside publisher in his early days at Harvard when he was involved as one of the student printers at the LOWELL-ADAMS HOUSE PRINTERS. He was a longtime friend of Cecil Day Lewis, Albert Gelpi, and a number of other poets and writers. He died in 2013.

These LOWELL HOUSE, COLLEGE YARD (Harvard) broadsides from the mid 1960s, especially those by important American poets, are SCARCE.

About LOWELL HOUSE PRINTERS:

******Lowell House Printers was a printing press located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for producing limited edition books and pamphlets. One example is "The Trees", a poem by Adrienne Rich with illustrations by Joan Goguen, published in 1964 in an edition of 75 copies. The press was associated with Lowell House, one of the residential houses at Harvard University.******

TRANSFER 21 - THE LITERARY MAGAZINE OF SAN FRANCISCO STATE COLLEGE [now San Francisco State University], Spring 1966, Number 21.

Includes student ANNE RICE'S SECOND PUBLISHED STORY (the first with Counts, Bats, and mysterious, drippy, dark surroundings). Also contains poems by STAN RICE, Anne Rice's husband. And to top it off, there is an insert with a poem by the author THOMAS SANCHEZ.

The story by SFSU student ANNE O'BRIEN RICE is titled "NICHOLAS AND JEAN". It is subtitled "Chapter One of a Nouvella" (sic). This is Anne Rice's second published work, the first having been published in Transfer #19. "Nicholas and Jean" is, however, Anne Rice's first work with the eerie sensibilities of "Interview with the Vampire", and her other Vampire novels. "Interview with a Vampire" was published in 1976, ten years after the publication of this story / chapter one of a novella.

Anne Rice's "Nicholas and Jean" is 7 pages long (pages 3-9). Stan Rice has 3 poems in the issue, and Thomas Sanchez has two poems, one which is on an insert.

Printed paper covers, side stapled, 5.5x8.5 inches, 48 pages.

GOOD condition: The wrappers have pulled from the staples at the front fold but are holding on at the back fold, otherwise bright, clean, clear and unmarked. A nice, presentable copy.

Rare look at Anne Rice's early drift towards Vampires and Vampirism.

The Prince of Washington Square An Up-To-The Minute Story By Harry F. Liscomb

Published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1925. First edition. Hardcover in original orange dustjacket. Hardcover, illustrated orange paper covered boards, hint of grey topstain, 7.5" x 5.25", 180 pages, in its un-priceclipped dustjacket. GOOD CONDITION: the covers have a few small droplet stains, toning and wear to the edges but remains solid and bright, internally very good, some areas of small staining, overall tight, bright, clean and unmarked. In a fair dj with droplet staining, toning to the spine and folds, chipping to the fold and spine-ends, and some small scrapes, overall solid, legible and the flaps remain quite bright!

One of the first Black authored novels of the 1920s, it was published by a major white New York publisher and was very popular and aggressively advertised especially in the Black media. Suddenly it was totally ignored by the white press after being destroyed by a white critic in the Saturday Review of Literature [May 23, 1925]. Set in Greenwich Village, focusing on multiethnic youth gang culture and contemporary Blackness. Written when the author was just 19 years old, he was planning another novel but that never happened. A lifelong New Yorker, Harry F. Liscomb (b. Circa 1906) died in obscurity probably in Queens.

For informational purposes, the last three photos are images of 1925 newspaper reviews of Liscomb's novel: review with photograph of the author, from the The Afro-American, South's Biggest and Best Weekly; The Saturday Review of Literature (May 23, 1925) white media takedown of the book; The Negro World April 18, 1925, Newspaper devoted solely to the interests of the Negro race. (These clippings are not included).

NEW SIGNATURES 1948 / NEW SIGNATURES 1 : A SELECTION OF COLLEGE WRITING, edited by ALAN SWALLOW.

Published by Alan Swallow, printed at The Press of James Decker, Prairie City, Illinois, copyright 1947 but published in 1948. First Edition, with no indication of later printings.

The book contains stories by various college students across the country, including the story THE BARBER by FLANNERY O'CONNOR, a student at the University of Iowa.

Hardcover Book, no dustjacket, 5.5x8 inches, 178 pages. The Flannery O'Connor story is on pages 113 through 124.

This is Flannery O'Connor's first appearance in book form. This story, along with six others, were previously printed as part of her Master's Thesis at the University of Iowa in 1946, titled "The Geranium: A Collection of Short Stories". The story The Geranium was then published in the literary journal Accent: A Quarterly of New Literature, in 1946.

GOOD Condition: The covers' bottom corner tips are bumped, the spine has a light crease, the gilt titling on the front cover and spine is faded but legible, otherwise the covers are solid, clean and doing their job well. Internally, there is a previous owner's bookplate on the front pastedown (see below), the pages are lightly toned as normal and there is a mild crease to their bottom corner; otherwise tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. A solid, nice, presentable copy.

Bookplate of ELDRED and LOIS RENK is on the front pastedown. In 1940 while a student at Boise State College Eldred Renk wrote the school "fight" song "Orange and Blue" which is still sung at Boise State sporting events, though it has been revised over the years. Lois Renk had a movie worthy life which you can read about by searching "Lois Renk Wythe Western Friend". Interesting previous owners!

WHAT I BELIEVE / TRANSPIRATION TRANSPIRING / MINNESOTA, by ROBERT GRENIER. Introduction by Leslie Scalapino.

Boxed collection of 66 8.5x11 inch loose photocopied sheets, photocopied on one side only. The 66 sheets include 1 sheet that was intentionally left blank and 4 blank green sheets that separate the sections. The introduction by Leslie Scalapino is printed on sheets that are pasted onto the inside of the box's front and rear covers. The loose sheets are held in the publisher's black paper covered cardboard box that is titled in white on the top and spine.

Published by O BOOKS, Oakland, California, 1991.

[There are sheets in this collection of poems with copyright dates of 1988 and 1989, but it is known that this collection of photocopied poems was published by O Books in 1991.]

The work is in three parts: WHAT I BELIEVE (originally published by Potes & Poets Press, 1988); TRANSPIRATION TRANSPIRING (not previously published but originally copyrighted 1989); and MINNESOTA.

Grenier is a "Language School" poet. His poems in this collection consist mainly of scrawls that were photocopied from his notebooks and handwritten sheets.

Condition: The 66 sheets are in NEAR FINE condition, bright, clean, clear and unmarked; The box is in GOOD MINUS condition, there are scrapes and rubs along its edges, and a couple smudge marks to its top, but it is solid and functioning well.

An interestingly designed publication from the late 20th century "Language Poetry" avant-garde movement.

About ROBERT GRENIER (from Wikipedia):

******Robert Grenier, b.1941, is an American poet associated with the Language School. He was founding co-editor of the influential magazine THIS (1971-1974). THIS provided one of the first gatherings in print of writers, artists, and poets now identified (or loosely referred to) as belonging to the Language School.

Grenier's "Language" poetry is as much visual as verbal, involving "drawn" and "scawled" poems in various formats.

In an essay from the first issue of THIS, Grenier declared: "I HATE SPEECH". Ron Silliman, commenting on Robert Grenier's three words, wrote: "These words...announced a breach and a new moment in American writing."******

About LANGUAGE POETRY (extracts from Wikipedia):

******Language poetry is an avant-garde literary movement that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, focusing on the nature of language itself, rather than traditional narrative or emotional content, and emphasizing the materiality of words and challenging conventional syntax and semantics to provoke new meanings and experiences for the reader. It's considered to have emerged in response to what some poets saw as a return to traditional poetic forms in mainstream American poetry.

Language poets prioritizes the experimental use of language, formal and informal language, jargon, and various forms and types of language, often employing experimental techniques to subvert established norms and question how language shapes our perception of reality.******

CANTARES - VERSOS. Lyrical verses by ANTONIO BOTTO; Musical Scores by Nicolau d'Albuquerque Ferreira; Illustrations by Antonio Carneiro.

LISBON: Typographia do Annuario Commercial, 1919. First edition. Text in Portuguese.

SIGNED and INSCRIBED by ANTONIO BOTTO on the front free endpaper: "Ao exmo Amigo Correia / agradecendo as suas / belas atenção / oferece / Antonio Botto". [To my dear friend Correia, thanking him for his kind attention, Antonio Botto.]

Hardcovers, no dustjacket as issued, 4to. 9.5x11 inches (24x29 cm), 60 unnumbered pages. Illustrated with reproductions of paintings by Carneiro, each with a tissue guard protector, and with music by Ferreira.

GOOD condition: The covers have some light toning and soiling, the spine covering is peeling and worn, one leather tie is lacking, else the covers are solid and doing their job well. Internally, the pages are just lightly toned at the edges (except the front free endpaper which is more substantially toned), otherwise tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. A nice, solid, presentable copy.

SCARCE, especially so with the SIGNATURE & INSCRIPTION of ANTONIO BOTTO.

About ANTONIO BOTTO (from Wikipedia):

******António Botto, b.1897 d.1959, was a Portuguese aesthete and lyricist poet. Botto grew up in a neighbourhood of old shabby houses, the ambiance was one of poverty and promiscuousness. The dirty streets were crowded with workers, housewives shopping, vendors, beggars, tramps, kids playing, pimps, prostitutes and sailors. All of this deeply influenced Botto's work.

His first book of poems Trovas was published in 1917. It was followed by Cantigas de Saudade (1918), Cantares (1919) and Canções do Sul (1920). His book Canções (1921) caused a scandal and gave Botto a notoriety that has lasted until this day. In Canções Botto wrote about same-sex love in a very nonchalant and romantic way; and it featured a photograph of Botto in a languid, partially nude pose.

The journal Comtemporânea praised the author's courage and sincerity for shamelessly singing about homosexual love as a true aesthete. Conservatives branded the book "Sodom's literature" and had it banned. A year later the ban was lifted and Botto became somewhat of a mythical figure.

Botto's mythomania seems to have been a lifelong trait. He talked about unlikely friendships with people like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Vaslav Nijinsky, Federico García Lorca or André Gide. On the other hand, he never alluded to his modest background or ever talked about his parents or brothers.

He was a regular visitor of Lisbon's popular bohemian quarters and the docks, enjoying the company of sailors, a frequent image in his poems. In spite of a homosexual fame, he had a lifelong and fully devoted common law wife, Carminda da Conceição Silva Rodrigues, a widow, nine years his elder. "Marriage suits every handsome and decadent man", he once wrote.****** (Read more about Botto on his Wikipedia page and elsewhere on the Internet.)

ALL THE CONSPIRATORS, by Christopher ISHERWOOD.

LONDON: Jonathan Cape, 1928. First Edition (first printing), of the author's First Book.

Hardcovers, cloth covered boards, 5.5x7.5 inches (13x19 cm), 255 pages.

Reportedly signed by and from the library of LADY VIOLET POWEL, wife of ANTHONY POWELL. ALL OF WHICH IS PROBABLY UNTRUE. The book was acquired from a well-known Northern California based book auction house. The lot title was "From the library of Lady Violet Powell" and the lot description was; "From the library of Lady Violet Powell, with her signature on the front free endpaper. Lady Powell was the wife of writer Anthony Powell, author of A Dance to the Music of Time. She was a friend of Isherwood's and generally taken to be the model for the character of Isobel Tolland in her husband's novel sequence." Handwritten in the book in pencil beside "her" signature is the auction house cataloguer's pencil note: "Lady Powell / wife of Anthony Powell"

HOWEVER, THIS IS LIKELY NOT HER SIGNATURE OR HER BOOK. The book is signed "VIOLA POWELL / 1930". Note the following: Violet Powell married Anthony Powell in 1934 (i.e. 4 years after the book was signed Viola Powell.) All indications are that Lady Violet Powell only used the name Violet during her life. Comparisons of Lady Violet Powell's signature with this signature show distinct differences. So, speaking personally, buyer beware, and don't wait years to fully research your purchases! Again, THIS IS LIKELY NOT THE SIGNATURE OF VIOLET POWELL. But I share this with you so that you might do your own research, could be the auctioneer and cataloguer were right.

Condition: The cover's cloth is soiled, splitting at the spine folds and spine ends, and the spine lettering has almost completely disappeared; nonetheless the covers are still doing their job. Internally nice, small initials are written in a corner of the front and rear pastedown, a signature and associated note on the front free-endpaper as discussed above, and a small circular ink stamp is also on the front flyleaf, there is a bit of spotting to a few pages, otherwise the inner pages are tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked.

This FIRST EDITION is SCARCE, made more or less so with the signature of a Viola Powell.

A KEEPSAKE FOR ALFRED A. KNOPF. "Written and Printed by Various Hands Celebrating His Fiftieth Year as a Book Publisher".

FIFTY FINELY-PRINTED, SMALL-PRESS LEAFLETS, including an introductory pamphlet by Charles Antin. The leaflets were printed by a wide variety of small private presses. All were printed in tribute to the publisher Alfred A. Knopf. There is also a leaflet that lists all the contributors and their presses (so, 51 leaflets total). The leaflets are all loose and held in a Publisher's slipcase.

SIGNED ASSOCIATION COPY. Two letters accompany the keepsake. One is from ALFRED A. KNOPF, and is SIGNED by KNOPF, likely secretarially. The letter is on Alfred A. Knopf stationery and comes with its Knopf mailing envelope. The letter is addressed to FRANK POWERS. It thanks Frank Powers for his contribution to the keepsake collection (Frank Powers / Powers Private Press provided one of the keepsakes). The other letter is from Charles Antin of the Serendipity Press. In his letter he thanks Frank [Powers] for his contribution and says he is enclosing a copy of the keepsake tribute collection. Charles Antin organized the Knopf tribute.

The keepsakes are 4.5x7 inch leaflets, most are 4 pages, some are two sides of a single leaf, some have more pages, and a few have inserts. THEY HAVE BEEN COLLATED with the included LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS (49) and are all present and in proper order. The keepsakes and the list of contributors are held in a purple paper covered slipcase which has a printed wraparound title band.

Contributors include Frank Altschul / Overbrook Press; Merle Armitage / Mohawk Press; Joseph Blumenthal / Spiral Press; Warren Chappell / Salisbury Press; Muir Dawson and Saul Marks / Plantin Press; Frank Powers / Powers Private Press; Ward Ritchie / Anderson, Ritchie & Simon; Patricia Waddel / Pratt Institute; Lili and Erich Wronker / Ron Press; and many others.

NEW YORK: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. Limited Edition of only 150 copies.

VERY GOOD CONDITION: The slipcase has some rubs and light toning, the leaflets are all bright and clear, the letters are folded. A nice, solid set of keepsakes plus letters from Knopf and Antin.

About FRANK POWERS, one of the keepsake contributors and to whom letters of thanks from Knopf and Antin were addressed (from the Type Directors Club website):

******Frank Powers was one of the founders of the Type Directors Club "TDC", he even originated the term "Type Director" to give the role a more professional standing. In 1946 he became the TDC's first President, followed by two additional presidencies in 1961 and 1962. He also served as a tireless chairman of many TDC committees. Powers Often prepared club announcements on his home printing press, making printing plates from "a jar top, string, cork letters, a medal, linoleum, rubber tile, and cardboard." Frank worked as Director of Typography for J. Walter Thompson for 22 years.

In 1971 Frank Powers became the third member of the TDC to be honored with the TDC Medal "awarded for significant contributions to typography"******

STRANGE WATERS, by GEORGE STERLING.

SIGNED and INSCRIBED TWICE by GEORGE STERLING to GEORGE STEELE SEYMOUR the noted Chicago book collector who, with his wife Flora Warren Seymour, founded The Order of Bookfellows - a Chicago based literary society and small press publisher. In addition to being TWICE INSCRIBED by STERLING, the book has a number of the author's hand corrections.

The inscription on the title page reads: "Dear George: / Seriously, do you think there is any chance of getting this into our High Schools to supplant Evangeline? / Seriously, / George / San Francisco / Aug. 12, 1926." The second inscription is on the verso of the title page and reads: "For George Steele Seymour / from George Sterling."

No publisher or printed date, but the long inscription is dated August 12, 1926, which was just three and a half months before George Sterling committed Suicide. This was one of, if not the, last published work by George Sterling.

Booklet, paper wrappers (split at the spine fold and laid on loosely), 5.25x7.25 inches, ten numbered pages of text, plus title page and endpapers. The inner pages are string tied with a bow in the centerfold.

Condition: The front and rear wrappers are loose, they are toned especially at the margins; the inner pages are nice, lightly toned at the margins, otherwise tight, bright, clean and clear.

Though published near the end of his life, this is one of the more difficult Sterling items to find. Especially so with the humorous inscription; apparently he held on to his bohemian sense of humor until the end.

About George Sterling (from Wikipedia):

******George Sterling, b.1869 d.1926, was an American writer based in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and Carmel by the Sea. He was considered a prominent poet and playwright and proponent of Bohemianism during the first quarter of the twentieth century. His work was admired by writers as diverse as Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Theodore Dreiser, and Sinclair Lewis.

In 1905 Sterling moved to Carmel by the Sea, California, an undeveloped coastal area, and soon established a settlement for like-minded Bohemian writers. Carmel had been discovered by Charles Warren Stoddard and others, but Sterling made it world famous.

Sterling joined the Bohemian Club and acted in their theatrical productions each summer at the Bohemian Grove. For the Grove play of 1907 the Club presented Sterling's "The Triumph of Bohemia".

Sterling carried a vial of cyanide for many years. In November 1926, Sterling used it while at his residence at the San Francisco Bohemian Club. Kevin Starr wrote that "When George Sterling's corpse was discovered in his room at the Bohemian Club... the golden age of San Francisco's bohemia had definitely come to a miserable end."******