Semina VI [6]

[Houseboat, Boardwalk #2], Larkspur, CA: Wallace Berman, 1960. First edition. [14] unbound sheets, laid into a printed manila pocket mounted in a folded printed cover. Some foxing and soiling to covers, minor creasing to lower corners; still much better than usually seen.

One of 335 copies printed. This sixth issue of Berman’s legendary journal is given completely to Meltzer’s poem “The Clown,” printed in red ink on thirteen separate sheets, along with a printed title-page with Berman illustration. “Type handset and done on warped 5 x 8 inch Handpress.”

Meltzer formed a strong bond with Berman while living in Los Angeles at the end of the 1950s; he admired Berman for his ability to “combine and construct the images of a culture that was becoming increasingly mass-mediated and one dimensional into artworks that contained elements of an ongoing mystery.” (quoted in Semina Culture, p. 224)

Kherdian, p. 3. Lepper, p. 312. Clay & Phillips, pp. 78-79. Semina Culture, p. 62. In Numbers, pp. 339-344.