[UNDERGROUND PRESS] [ATLANTA] COFFIN, Tom and Stephanie (editors)

The Great Speckled Bird - Vol.1, No.1 (March 15-28, 1968)

Atlanta: Atlanta Cooperative News Project, 1968. First Edition. Tabloid (42cm); illustrated newsprint wrappers; 8pp; illus. Horizontal fold at center, some handling, faint creasing and a few small tears; Very Good+.

Debut issue of this long-running Atlanta-based underground newspaper, founded by a coterie of activist students from Emory University. The Bird, as it was affectionately called, was a major source of non-conventional news throughout the South, providing coverage of the civil rights movement, labor disputes, police brutality, and the anti-war movement. "That first issue cost $130 (1968 dollars) to put out. Everyone who had helped put it out hit the streets in the evening to hawk this new paper to Atlantans. Much to their surprise and delight the 15 cents collected for each copy sold amounted to enough money to print the next issue. The Great Speckled Bird was a success, or a curiosity-piece, or something, but it caught attention" (The Strip Project). Contents include an introductory message from founding editor Tom Coffin, articles on Ralph McGill, draft resistance, a police attack in Social Circle, GA, "The Logic of Howard Zinn," the arrest of Fort Jackson soldiers, comix, and a centerfold dedicated to jazz musician Charles Lloyd. A complete, well-preserved copy of an important debut.

Price: $250.00

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