A bibliography of the Black Sparrow Press archive : Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta

by Michael J. O'Driscoll, Jason Dewinetz

Overview

This bibliography describes in detail a valuable collection comprising archival materials related to the Black Sparrow Press from its founding in April 1966 to November 1970. The press was one of the most important private presses on the west coast of the United States, and it endured for 36 years. Its importance came from publishing some of the most avant-garde writers of the period. Their editions, published in limited runs, represent some of the most remarkable examples of fine press work in the late twentieth century. Publisher John Martin sold his collection of D. H. Lawrence first editions in order to finance Black Sparrow and to regularly publish Charles Bukowski’s poetry, among works of other innovative writers, including John Ashbery, Diane Wakoski, Charles Reznikoff, and Kenneth Koch. Totalling over a thousand items, the Black Sparrow Press Archive includes manuscript drafts, typescripts, corrected proofs and galleys, letters, posters, original artwork, photographs, master reel-to-reel recordings, and various peripheral materials related to publications of the press.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781551953878
Publisher:	University of Alberta Press
Publication date:	01/01/2002
Series:	Bruce Peel Special Collections
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 10.63(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Michael O'Driscoll is Professor of English at the University of Alberta. His teaching and research interests include poetry and poetics, twentieth-century American literature, the history of the book, and critical and cultural theories. In addition to numerous articles, he has co-edited After Postructuralism: Writing the Intellectual History of Theory (2002) with Tilottama Rajan. Jason Dewinetz is a writer, editor, typographer, printer, publisher, and educator originally from, and now living back in, the Okanagan Valley. He is the author of Clench (Gaspereau Press), Moving to the Clear(NeWest Press), The Gift of a Good Knife (Outlaw Editions), and In Theory (above/ground press). He runs Greenboathouse Press. Jason is currently an instructor in English, Creative Writing and Publication Design at Okanagan College.

Editorial Reviews

"[This publication] covers some ninety-four broadsides, pamphlets, and books published between 1966 (a broadside by Bukowski) and 1970 (10 Poems for 10 Poets by Gerald Malanga, one of Andy Warhol's Factory crew). The material is meticulously described, file by file, and typically the files contain much the same material for each book: manuscripts, proofs, drawings, file copies of the book, and letters from the writers.... [The project] will be of great use to everyone who studies postmodern American poetry."—Bruce Whiteman

From the Publisher

"[This publication] covers some ninety-four broadsides, pamphlets, and books published between 1966 (a broadside by Bukowski) and 1970 (10 Poems for 10 Poets by Gerald Malanga, one of Andy Warhol's Factory crew). The material is meticulously described, file by file, and typically the files contain much the same material for each book: manuscripts, proofs, drawings, file copies of the book, and letters from the writers.... [The project] will be of great use to everyone who studies postmodern American poetry."

Bruce Whiteman