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PROLETARIAN LITERATURE

PROLETARIAN LITERATURE

We have established ourselves as leading specialists in collectible books by American radical and proletarian writers, from the social reform literature of the 19th century to the literary counterculture of the 1960s, with many stops in between: Utopian fiction, literature of the Great Depression, Women's novels, African-American literature and much more. As with all of our inventory, we place a very strong emphasis on condition, and strive to offer the very best copies available.

At any given time only a fraction of our inventory is catalogued and listed on-line. If you're searching for a specific author, title or subject area, please click here to access our extremely functional and easy-to-use automatic wants-matching system.

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  • Red Harvest. Dashiell HAMMETT.

    Red Harvest

    HAMMETT, Dashiell

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); red cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamped in black and yellow on spine and front cover; green topstain; [xii],[3],4-270,[6]pp. Minimal sunning to spine; touch of softening to spine ends, topstain dulled, with some offsetting from an old cellophane cover onto endpapers, two tiny ink marks.....

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  • The Thirty-Six Trades of the State. ANARCHISM, Arsène ALEXANDRE, trans Benj. R. Tucker.

    The Thirty-Six Trades of the State

    [ANARCHISM] ALEXANDRE, Arsène; Benj. R. Tucker, trans.

    12mo (17cm.); staplebound self-wrappers; 10pp. Shallow chips and tiny losses to wrapper extremities, the whole a bit toned and dust-soiled, else Very Good and sound. Publisher's advertisements printed on pp. [11] and [14] (rear wrapper).

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  • Nothing Is Sacred. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Nothing Is Sacred

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] HERBST, Josephine

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); rough blue cloth with titling stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket and printed wraparound advertising band; [viii],244,[4]pp. Base of spine gently nudged, else a fresh, Fine copy in a bright, Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced $2.00), with the wraparound publicity band Fine intact. A......

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  • My Uncle Dudley. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    My Uncle Dudley

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] MORRIS, Wright

    First Printing. Octavo (20.75cm); beige buckram, with printed title label applied to spine; reddish-brown topstain; dustjacket; [10],210pp. Hint of sunning to spine, else Fine and clean throughout. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.50), with light wear to extremities, some faint creasing along front panel edges, and a sharp vertical fold slightly.....

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  • The Green Corn Rebellion. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    The Green Corn Rebellion

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] CUNNINGHAM, William

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); olive green cloth, with titling and cornstalk device stamped in black on spine and front cover; [vi],[2],3-302,[4]pp. Spine gently sunned, moderate wear to extremities, foxing to text edges, with a few spots of white paint spatter to rear cover; contemporary ownership signature of Elizabeth Prestopino on.....

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  • The Golden Blight. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, George Allan ENGLAND, John SLOAN, novel, illustrations.

    The Golden Blight

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] ENGLAND, George Allan (novel); SLOAN, John (illustrations)

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); mauve cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; [8],9-350,[2]pp. Though the title page credits it to C.D. Williams, the frontispiece and four black & white plates of illustrations are signed by John Sloan. Gentle sunning and some light dust-soil to spine, neat.....

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  • The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. ANARCHISM, Emma GOLDMAN.

    The Social Significance of the Modern Drama

    [ANARCHISM] GOLDMAN, Emma

    Octavo (19cm); light brown cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine and front cover; portrait frontispiece; 315,[1],[4]pp ads. This copy originally owned by American radio broadcaster and newspaper columnist George Ephraim Sokolsky (1893-1962), with his pictorial bookplate mounted to front pastedown, and his holograph signature ("George E. Sokolsky /.....

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  • Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, Claude MCKAY, Max EASTMAN, poems, introduction.

    Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay

    [AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] MCKAY, Claude (poems); EASTMAN, Max (introduction)

    Octavo (19.5cm); grey paper and navy blue cloth-covered boards, with printed title label mounted to upper spine; xxii,95,[3]pp. Light wear to spine ends and extremities, with faint foxing to upper edge of textblock and endpapers, and some light rubbing to title label; Near Fine, lacking the scarce dustjacket. McKay's first.....

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  • Echoes of Myself. Romantic Studies of the Human Soul. Ivan NARODNY, Eugene Higgins, pseud Jaan Sibbul.

    Echoes of Myself. Romantic Studies of the Human Soul

    NARODNY, Ivan [pseud Jaan Sibbul]; Eugene Higgins (illus)

    No. 876 of 999 hand-numbered copies. Author's inscription to front endpaper: "To Mr. Alfred Wiehl with compliments," signed, undated but apparently contemporary with publication. Octavo. Green cloth, titled in gilt; 231pp; frontispiece and three unnumbered leaves of plates. A tight, Near Fine copy, with just a trace of rubbing to.....

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  • Generals Die In Bed. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Generals Die In Bed

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] HARRISON, Charles Yale

    Second Printing, published 2 months after the first. Octavo (19.5cm); tan cloth, with titles stamped in red on spine and front cover; eagle-patterned endpapers; black topstain; [xiv],[2],3-269,[5]pp. Upper corners bumped, gently spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn, with a touch of softening to spine ends; hinges sound; Very Good or better, lacking the.....

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  • Somebody in Boots [Inscribed to Ken McCollum. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Somebody in Boots [Inscribed to Ken McCollum]

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] ALGREN, Nelson

    First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); russet cloth, blocked and titled in black on spine; brown topstain; [x],322,[4]pp. Warmly inscribed on the title page to Ken McCollum, Algren's bibliographer, with a drawing of a cat, dated 1972: "With best wishes to Ken McCollum / from Nelson Algren (Whose private opinion it is.....

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  • Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America [Inscribed by Both Authors. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, AKA Kwame Ture.

    Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America [Inscribed by Both Authors]

    [AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] CARMICHAEL, Stokely (AKA Kwame Ture) and Charles...

    First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); bluish-grey paper-covered boards and turquoise cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine, and authors initials embossed onto front cover; light blue topstain; dustjacket; [4],xvi,198,[6]pp. Inscribed by Carmichael on the front pastedown: "To my Brother James / Afrika will be free / unified + socialist.....

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  • Amok. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Amok

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] ZWEIG, Stefan

    First printing. 12mo. Yellow cloth, titled in maroon on spine with color pictorial vignette to front cover; dark green topstain; 121pp. Light soiling to cloth, else a straight, tight, Near Fine copy. In the original pictorial dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $1.50 on front flap), lightly soiled but generally bright and unfaded.....

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  • Conceived in Liberty: A Novel of Valley Forge. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Conceived in Liberty: A Novel of Valley Forge

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] FAST, Howard

    First Printing. Octavo (20.75cm); burgundy cloth boards, with titling and decorations stamped in white and black on spine and front cover; black topstain; map endpapers; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-389,[3]pp. Some offsetting to endpapers, else internally fresh, and very Near Fine. Dustjacket is evenly machine-clipped, with $2.50 price at lower rear flap, and.....

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  • Spain. RADICAL LITERATURE, W. H AUDEN, SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

    Spain

    [RADICAL LITERATURE] [SPANISH CIVIL WAR] AUDEN, W.H.

    Octavo. Original unprinted wrappers with integral dustjacket. Mild fading to jacket at bound edge, else a Fine copy. Later in life Auden would disown his Spanish Civil War propaganda, calling it "trash" he was "sorry to have written." At the time of its publication however this long poem, a rousing.....

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  • Lonnie McLucas: A Truly Revolutionary Servant of the People. AFRICAN AMERICANA, BLACK PANTHER PARTY, LONNIE MCLUCAS.

    Lonnie McLucas: A Truly Revolutionary Servant of the People

    [AFRICAN AMERICANA] [BLACK PANTHER PARTY] [LONNIE MCLUCAS]

    Slim octavo (21.5cm); pictorial mimeographed wraps; [iii],6,[3]pp. Light wear and handling, else very Near Fine. McLucas (1945-2016), one of the New Haven 9, was convicted of conspiracy in the torture-murder of Alex Rackley, who at the time of his death in 1969, was suspected by several members of the Black.....

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  • Rope of Gold. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN FICTION.

    Rope of Gold

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN FICTION] HERBST, Josephine

    Octavo. Cloth boards; dustjacket; 429pp. Bright, Near Fine copy, with yellow top stain unsoiled and unfaded. In the original dustwrapper, crisp and unworn; all four corners clipped by publisher (as always), with $2.50 price intact on both front and rear flaps; just lightly soiled on lighter portions of rear panel;.....

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  • Songs of the Spoiled. ANARCHISM, Jo LABADIE.

    Songs of the Spoiled

    [ANARCHISM] LABADIE, Jo

    16mo (14cm.); publisher's hand-stitched marbled wrappers; 52pp; text printed in dark purple on double leaves. Light wear with slight chipping at spine and corners, textblock uniformly toned, else Very Good or better. At head of title page: "The Labadie Booklets."

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  • Strike! RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Strike!

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] VORSE, Mary Heaton

    First Printing. Octavo (19.25cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in orange on spine and front cover; pictorial endpapers; orange topstain; [6],7-376pp. Touch of sofening to spine ends, gentle sunning to spine, with light wear to extremities and some faint foxing to text edges; a Very Good, sound copy, lacking the.....

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  • La Nube Esteril: Drama del Mezquital. Antonio RODRÍGUEZ, Fernando Castro Pacheco, engravings.

    La Nube Esteril: Drama del Mezquital

    RODRÍGUEZ, Antonio; Fernando Castro Pacheco (engravings)

    Softcover. Octavo (24cm); beige paper wrappers; upper and lower edges untrimmed; 317pp; black-and-white illustrations. Some pages of text unopened. Modest shelf-wear, with soil to wrappers and edges of textblock, and trace peeling to spine titling; Very Good. Fiction work examines social history of the Mezquital Valley region in Mexico. [88790].....

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  • Labyrinths, with Path of Thunder. NIGERIA, Christopher OKIGBO.

    Labyrinths, with Path of Thunder

    [NIGERIA] OKIGBO, Christopher

    First impression. Small, slim octavo; red cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 72pp. Tight, clean and unmarked; Near Fine. In the original dustwrapper, front flap clipped by publisher with printed price label (£1.25) affixed; lightly rubbed at edges, bit of toning to spine panel, still Very Good or better. Posthumous collection by the.....

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  • Insights & Poems [Signed by Ericka Huggins. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE, Huey P. NEWTON, Ericka Huggins.

    Insights & Poems [Signed by Ericka Huggins]

    [AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] NEWTON, Huey P. and Ericka Huggins

    First Printing. Small octavo (15cm); original pictorial card wrappers; [4],5-84,[4]pp; illus. Signed by Ericka Huggins on the title page. Pinpoint wear to extremities, tiny stress creases to upper left corner of rear wrapper, else a clean, very Near Fine copy. Scarce collection of poems co-authored by Newton and Huggins, chronicling.....

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  • The Work of a Common Woman. LGBTQIA+ AUTHORS, Judy GRAHN.

    The Work of a Common Woman

    [LGBTQIA+ AUTHORS] GRAHN, Judy

    First printing. Octavo; red cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 158pp. A fine, unmarked copy. In the original dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $8.75 on front flap), slightly edgeworn, with the usual fading to spine panel; Very Good. The first retrospective of Grahn's poems, after three published collections.

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  • Anarchism and American Traditions. ANARCHISM, Voltairine DE CLEYRE.

    Anarchism and American Traditions

    [ANARCHISM] DE CLEYRE, Voltairine

    Slim octavo (19.5cm); original pictorial wrappers, stapled; 20pp. Touch of oxidation to staples, else a clean, very Near Fine copy. De Cleyre (1866 - 1912) was the leading figure of radical anarchist feminism prior to Emma Goldman. This title was originally issued by Goldman's Mother Earth Press in 1909; the.....

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  • Caesar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century. Edmund BOISGILBERT, pseud. of Ignatius Donnelly.

    Caesar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century

    BOISGILBERT, Edmund (pseud. of Ignatius Donnelly)

    First Printing. Octavo (19cm); publisher's blue cloth, with titles in gilt on spine and front cover; 367pp. Slight wear to cloth at spine ends, subtle darkening to spine, with gilt a trifle dull; still a very well-preserved Very Good or better copy, extremely uncommon thus. With the ownership stamp of.....

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  • De Ratchet a Talk. DUB POETRY, Martin GLYNN.

    De Ratchet a Talk

    [DUB POETRY] GLYNN, Martin

    First impression. Octavo. Pictorial card wrappers; 56pp. Touch of toning to text margins, else Fine. Glynn, born in Jamaica in 1957, was an active participant in London's dub poetry scene of the Eighties, performing as "Dr. G" alongside such dub luminaries as Abdul Malik de Coteau and Benjamin Zephaniah. In.....

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  • The Emancipation of Wakefield Clay: A Novel. Randall ROBINSON.

    The Emancipation of Wakefield Clay: A Novel

    ROBINSON, Randall

    First impression; wrappered issue (simultaneously issued in cloth). Octavo. Pictorial card wrappers; 106pp. Mild external rubbing and wear, with a few spots of foxing visible on the lighter portions of the wrappers; internally tight and clean, with minimal toning to text margins; Very Good. Future war novel set in South.....

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  • The Girl From The Farm. Gertrude DIX.

    The Girl From The Farm

    DIX, Gertrude

    First printing (American issue; published simultaneously in Great Britain by John Lane). 12mo (18cm). Decorated green cloth; 208pp + 4pp publisher's ads; cover and title page decorations by Aubrey Beardsley (who designed all the books in this series). Cloth on spine is darkened, with gilt dulled but legible; text is.....

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  • Mingled Yarn [Inscribed. Willie Snow ETHRIDGE.

    Mingled Yarn [Inscribed]

    ETHRIDGE, Willie Snow

    First Printing. Octavo (21cm); gray cloth-covered boards, with titling stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [x],395,[4]pp. Inscribed by author on front endpaper: "For Sue Tanner McKenzie, whom I remember so much better than my actions allow. Willie Snow Ethridge". Modest shelf-wear and -soil, with foxing to covers.....

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  • The Road. Elias TOBENKIN.

    The Road

    TOBENKIN, Elias

    First Printing. Octavo (19.25cm); hunter green cloth, with titles stamped in red on spine and front cover; [viii],[2],3-316,[4]pp. Text mildly tanned as usual, else a straight, attractive copy, Very Good or better, lacking the scarce dustjacket. Rather uncommon proletarian novel of the Twenties, set among striking workers at a New.....

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  • Искусство убеждать: парадные издания 1920–1930-х годов [=. Mikhail KARASIK.

    Искусство убеждать: парадные издания 1920–1930-х годов [= Iskusstvo ubeždatʹ : paradnye izdanija...

    KARASIK, Mikhail

    Quarto. Original illustrated boards; 288pp; illus. Fine, unread copy. Richly detailed bibliography of Soviet avant-garde propaganda photo books of the post-Revolutionary period. Text entirely in Russian (Cyrillic).

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  • The Port Huron Statement: the Visionary Call of the 1960s Revolution [Signed Copy. Tom HAYDEN.

    The Port Huron Statement: the Visionary Call of the 1960s Revolution [Signed...

    HAYDEN, Tom

    First printing of the Thunder's Mouth reissue. Signed by Hayden in ink, on half-title. Octavo; printed card wrappers (only format issued); 171pp. A fine copy. Contains the full text of the 1962 edition, here reissued with a substantial new introduction by Hayden.

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  • Morning, Noon and Night: A Novel. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, pseud. of Philip Stevenson.

    Morning, Noon and Night: A Novel

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] LAWRENCE, Lars (pseud. of Philip Stevenson)

    First Printing. Octavo (21.75cm); red cloth, with titles stamped in silver on spine; dustjacket; viii,[2],3-340,[4]pp. Rubbing to crown, light wear to lower board edges, else clean internally; Very Good+. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $3.95), measuring just slightly shorter than the book, as with nearly every copy we have seen; gently.....

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  • From Flushing to Calvary [Presentation Copy to Evelyn Scott. Edward DAHLBERG.

    From Flushing to Calvary [Presentation Copy to Evelyn Scott]

    DAHLBERG, Edward

    First Printing. Inscribed on the front endpaper: "For Evelyn Scott whose reaction to my little book I most sincerely appreciate," signed in full, datemarked aboard the S.S. Bremen, Mar 28, 1933. Octavo (20.5cm); tan cloth, with titling and rule stamped in black on spine and front panel; green topstain; dustjacket;.....

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  • Knock On Any Door. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, LITERATURE.

    Knock On Any Door

    [AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] MOTLEY, Willard

    First Printing, with (1) following final paragraph. Octavo (22cm); gray cloth-covered boards, with titles stamped in dark purple on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-503,[1]pp. Tiny indentation to upper front board edge, some trivial dustiness to pastedowns, else a fresh, Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $3.00), lightly edgeworn.....

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  • Many Thousand Gone. BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, Ronald L. FAIR.

    Many Thousand Gone

    [BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT] FAIR, Ronald L.

    First printing. Octavo (21cm). Green cloth hardcover, spine titles stamped in gilt and black; dustjacket; 114pp. Tight, straight copy, very slightly rubbed at bottom board edges, else Near Fine. In the original dustwrapper, unclipped (with correct price of $3.50 on front flap), slightly rubbed and worn, chip at upper front.....

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  • Long View [Inscribed. Genevieve TAGGARD.

    Long View [Inscribed]

    TAGGARD, Genevieve

    First printing. Inscribed on front endpaper: "To Marc / 'in the name of all tears, no tears' / from Jed Taggard. [I send Collected Poems, also, so that you may see pgs 11,12,13]." Octavo. Navy cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 113pp. Tight, square copy with a touch of foxing to endpapers and.....

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  • The Colonel and His Friends: A Suppressed Play. Hulet M. WELLS.

    The Colonel and His Friends: A Suppressed Play

    WELLS, Hulet M.

    Octavo. Staple-bound pamphlet; 32pp. Mild external wear, with a bit of sunning at bound edge; internally clean, tight and unmarked. Very Good or better overall. Scarce Socialist three-act drama based written in response to the Potlach Riot of 1913, when a mob of nativist citizens attacked the Seattle headquarters of.....

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  • La Hora Cero y otros poemas. Ernesto CARDENAL.

    La Hora Cero y otros poemas

    CARDENAL, Ernesto

    First impression. Small, slim octavo (19cm); printed card wrappers, 59.[5]pp. Slight external wear; ink ownership signature to front endpaper, Very Good. From the collection of Puerto Rican poet, translator, and editor Roberto Marquez. Text entirely in Spanish. Issued as no.67 in the publisher's series "El Bardo," edited by José Battló.....

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  • War Elegies. William EVERSON, Kemper Nomland Jr, aka Brother Antoninus.

    War Elegies

    EVERSON, William [aka Brother Antoninus]; Kemper Nomland, Jr., illus

    First printed edition. Deluxe issue; no.23 of 30 signed and numbered copies, from a total edition of 975. Octavo; bound in full polished sheep, marbled endpapers, [38]pp, with illustrations by Kemper Nomland, Jr. A fine copy. This chapbook, one of Everson's earliest published works, was printed at Camp Angel, the.....

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