In Medias Res; Canto One of an Autobiographical Epic: "Dust Shall Be the Serpent's Food

San Francisco: Adrian Wilson, 1984. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Killion, Tom. One of 226 copies, elephant folio size, 25 pp., inscribed by Everson to Michael Neilson and signed at the colophon by William Everson, Tom Killion, and Adrian Wilson. William Everson (1912-1994), also known as Brother Antoninus, a name he adopted during his sixteen years serving as a Dominican monk, is considered an essential force of the San Francisco literary Renaissance that would become the Beat movement. Everson's poetry is deeply autobiographical and inspired by the California landscape; he is known for his observations of both the beauty and violence of the natural world as it clashes with man's progress.

"In Medias Res" is the first canto of an autobiographical poem (which was never completed), printed by Adrian Wilson (1923-1988), who ran The Press in Tuscany Alley. Although he and Everson had kept in "close printerly contact" as they both worked as printers in the San Francisco Bay Area, this publication is their first full collaboration (n. b., quote from Everson's Note in the book).

This volume contains woodcuts by American artist and author Tom Killion (b. 1953), whose illustrations display exquisite detail of line and shape; Killion learned printmaking and bookbinding from Jack Stauffacher of the Greenwood Press, another prominent printer in the Bay Area.

The book inscribed by Everson on the half-title page "for Michael Neilson / with best wishes / William Everson / Oct. 26, 1986 / San Francisco"; Neilson had been at the time with the San Francisco Post.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter blue leather with natural linen boards, leather inset with gilt illustration of the ouroboros on the front board, gilt lettering on the spine, all edges uncut, frontispiece a woodcut by Tom Killion, inscribed by Everson on the half-title (as set forth above) in sepia ink, title page in blue and black, woodcut of the ouroboros by Tom Killion on the first page of sectional title page; Centaur and Arrighi types, handmade paper by Barcham Green & Company, elephant folio size (16" by 10 1/2"), pagination: [1-6] 7-24 [1 colophon], No. 124 of 226 copies, signed by William Everson, Tom Killion, and Adrian Wilson on the colophon.

___CONDITION: Overall a fine copy; the leather shelfback and onlay smooth and supple, the linen covers clean, the corners unrubbed, the binding tight with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; a hint of wear to the head and tail of the spine, else fine, with the leather shelfback very slightly sunned.

___POSTAGE:  Please note that due to size additional postage may apply; please inquire for details.

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