A Group of Four Works; Including: American Express; Long Live Man; Selected Poems; War Poems

various: various, 1968. 4 volumes. American Express (Paris: Olympia Press, 1961)—first edition, wrappers, fine in fine dust jacket; Long Live Man (New York: New Directions, 1962)—long galley and page proofs, two sets, long sheets folded with single staple in upper right corner, pages browned with few small nicks and one long closed tear to cover sheet, else near fine; page proofs consisting of single sheets with printed rectos only, rare; Selected Poems (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962)—first edition, fine in fine dust jacket with touch of soiling; War Poems (New York: Poets Press, 1968)—first edition, illustrated wrappers, fine, one of 2,000 copies. These four books capture Corso's evolution during the 1960s as the youngest member of the core Beat poets during their most influential years. American Express, published in Paris by Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press, captures Corso at his most transgressive, blending street vernacular with visionary imagery in poems that scandalized and thrilled in equal measure. The Long Live Man proofs document the editorial process at New Directions in two complete sets, with the page proofs notably absent four poems that would appear in the final published version. From the collection of Edwin Erbe, New Directions' publicity director. Selected Poems marks Corso's first British collection, published without an American counterpart. The anthology concludes with War Poems, featuring Corso alongside Ginsberg, Creeley, Duncan, Olson, Snyder, McClure, and Baraka in a volume that channeled the Beats toward anti-Vietnam War activism.