Kaddish; with "White Shroud" and "Black Shroud

San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1992. Limited Edition. Hardcover. New. Kitaj, R.B.. Quarto, 12 3/8" by 10", 64 pages. The type for the poetry and the introduction is Imprint, in Monotype composition by Mackenzie & Harris. The display type is Weiss Titling No. 3, handset. The lithographs were printed by Curwen Chilford in Cambridge, England. The paper is T.H. Saunders cream laid, an English mould-made sheet. The binding, done in-house, is hand-sewn, in two colors of Japanese cloth, a black with tan fibers and a gray-green, titled on the front cover and fore-edge. A triangular flap (reflecting the shape of the initial K in the title) encloses the fore-edge and folds into the front cover. Edition of 200 numbered copies, plus 26 lettered copies hors de commerce, signed by the poet and artist. Following the Grabhorn-Hoyem edition of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" in 1971, Hoyem proposed to Ginsberg (1926-1997) that his second major poem, "Kaddish", about his mother, Naomi, be published in a limited, signed edition by Arion Press. He agreed, and as for the "Howl" edition, offered additonal material. For "Howl", he had included "The Names", a poetic fragment that identified and provided more information about people mentioned in the longer poem. For "Kaddish", he offered two additional poems, "White Shroud" and "Black Shroud", which were extensions of themes in "Kaddish".

The artist R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007) made a lithograph, a double portrait of Ginsberg and his mother facing each other as if at about the same age, with Naomi seeming to be speaking to her son and saying: "Get married, Allen, don't take drugs."

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