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82.
First Blues: Rags, Ballads & Harmonium Songs 1971-74.
NY: Full Court Press, 1975. First edition. 8vo. Grey cloth. 74pp.
Limited edition of 100 numbered copies SIGNED by the author (this one #14; there were also 12 lettered hors commerce copies). Introduction by the author (written at Naropa, June 30, 1975).
The book features music notation by Arthur Russell (and one by Ginsberg) to several songs. The subsequent paperback edition included a frontispiece photograph of Ginsberg with Bob Dylan (not included in the hardcover edition), to whom Ginsberg dedicated the book.
In her introduction to the eponymous Folkways album (item #84), which featured material from the book, Ann Charters wrote that Ginsberg’s introductory text “is also the best explanation of what he was trying to create in this new poetic form…”, and that “many of the songs were conceived with rock band accompaniment.”
Fine in Near Fine dw.
Price:
£175.00
