[RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] [JEFFREY, Susu, et al, eds]

Merlyn Gorky volume 1 / . Numbers 1 & 2: "newspaper" and "24 poemcards" [many signed]

San Francisco: Merlyn Gorky, 1979. First Edition. Vol.1: newspaper; 38pp.; (40cm x 29cm) Vol. 2: Twenty-four letterpress broadside poems, each 16cm x 11cm (5-1/2" x 4-1/4") or the reverse. Loose, as issued, with no enclosing envelope. Printed in different color inks on various cardstocks; each with imprint on verso. Together comprising Issues No. 1 & 2 of Merlyn Gorky, a short-lived radical left literary-political journal (there appear to have been only two numbers issued) edited by the feminist poet Susu Jeffrey. The newspaper has a few nicks at the fold; toning to the interior pages; Very Good+. Fourteen of the cards are signed (a few with inscriptions; two dated May-June 1981). Complete and fine.

Of particular note is the signed contribution by "Pancho Aguila" – this was the prison pseudonym of notorious poet/criminal Roberto Solis, convicted of murder in an armored car heist in 1969, released in 1992, and currently (2018) a fugitive from justice, wanted in connection with a $3-million armored-card robbery in 1993. His autograph is uncommon. Issues 1-2 apparently all issued; no. 1 not located in OCLC, no. 2 rare, with OCLC recording one location only (Delaware).

Includes the following (signed or inscribed where noted):

• Beyond Skinner's box / Steve Abbott (signed)
• Mummy / Pancho Aguila (signed)
• Spring Day / Dick Bakken
• An ode to the great migrations / Andrew Benson (signed)
• The Jew and the gentile / Carol Bergé
• Mission district / Peter Brett (signed)
• The warmonger's beatitude / Chinweizu
• Nine lines / Geoffrey Cook
• Dialectic / R. V. Cottam (signed)
• As the general / John Curl (signed)
• Just a note for the darkness / Tony D'Arpino
• I dreamed I killed a butterfly... / Mathew Forstater
• Postcard V for Susan Roach / Gary Gach (signed, with initials "ggg")
• It makes all the difference / Phillip Guddemi
• I used to lie on my back / Philip Hackett (signed, dated 6/1/81)
• A broad casting / Susu Jeffrey (signed)
• Mist / Joyce Jenkins (signed)
• War is a game / S. Lee
• Why do the young always die / John Mueller (signed)
• Identity crisis / Peter Pussydog
• Ingredients / John S. Selby
• Fish knot / Calvin Senter (signed)
• 26 x 76 / David Shevin (signed)
• Postcard / C. W. Truesdale (inscribed: "for the San Francisco Poster Brigade / C.W. Truesdale" dated 20 May 1981).

Price: $450.00

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