[SKELETON ILLUSTRATIONS]. The Ides of March [SIGNED COPY]

New York: Vantage Press, 1977. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 8vo. 85, [1] pp. With 43 black and white macabre plates by the author. Original black cloth, original dust wrapper illustrated by the author. ¶ First and only appearance of these curious quatrains (ballad stanzas and clerihews) written by an otherwise unknown American author. Our copy is inscribed by the author: "Lu, Find the cloak lost in dreams / for t'is the only vehicle left not in ruin / Rene." The poetry herein reminds us at times of the musings of Leonard Cohen (sic!). The work is illustrated throughout with full page line drawings of skeletons in surrealist settings: "The skeletal (truncated) structures in this book, when viewed as attitudes rather than people themselves illustrate the effects of a future arrived -- only to find confusion on all fronts" (from the author's statement). A strange and wonderful book, quite unknown. Scarce: no copy of this book is currently on the market.

¶ The NYPL catalog describes the book as containing: "Whimsically despairing surrealist verse in ballad stanzas and clerihews; illustrations by the poet of skeletal figures in surrealistic settings"). (Inventory #: 1165)