Ginsberg, Allen; LaVigne, Robert

Howl for Carl Solomon [With 7 Original Studies for the Cover by LaVigne]

San Francisco: Grabhorn-Hoyem, 1971. Limited edition. 4to. 44pp. Publisher's decorative binding, tan linen, with wrap-around artwork in nine colors, edges untrimmed, signed by Ginsberg and LaVigne on title page, signed by Hoyem on limitation page, fine. Two variants of the prospectus laid in, both signed by Ginsberg and LaVigne. Includes 7 piece study for the cover artwork signed by LaVigne.

The first fine press edition of this landmark poem printed by Andrew Hoyem and Robert Grabhorn.  It contains the original text as it was published in 1956 with minute revisions and the addition of a related poetic fragment, The Names, which Ginsberg wrote in 1957 - the first appearance of the two collected works.

In the poem, Ginsberg describes "Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows!" This imagery is based on a drug-induced vision of such a monster when observing the Gothic Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco (now called The Beacon Grand). Robert Lavigne's cover illustration captures this representation beautifully. This study includes 7 pieces of LaVigne's art which led to the cover:

8" x 11" colored pencil on yellow notebook paper, signed
21.75" x 15.5" colored pencil on paper, signed
21.75" x 17.5" colored pencil on paper, signed
18" x 12" pencil on tracing paper, signed
10 3/8" x 15.5" pencil on tracing paper, signed
10" x 15.5" pencil on paper
10" x 15.5" ink on paper, signed

 

. Item #7797

Price: $4,000.00