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10.
Kral Majales.
Np. (Berkeley, CA): Oyez Press, 1965. Poetry broadside. Handset on handmade paper. 51.3x37.6cm. Illustrations by Robert LaVigne of two nude silhouettes of Ginsberg in white and black set within penis-shaped frames; the signatures of both are printed in facsimile below.
Ginsberg wrote the poem on the plane to London from Prague, where students had elected him ‘King of May’ (he was deported almost immediately). Shortly after his arrival, and following his famous meetings with Bob Dylan and the Beatles, Ginsberg visited Better Books (on the recommendation of Ed Sanders) and met Miles for the first time. As the latter’s diary for 1965 reveals (item #8), they met again on May 13 to arrange a reading at the bookshop, which was held six days later and ended with Ginsberg reading “Kral Majales”.
Old tack holes to top corners and one to the centre of the lower edge from its early life pinned up on the wall of Indica Books; light soiling along left edge and old fingerprints to verso; o/w Very Good. One of 350 copies.
