signed first edition Hardcover
1977 · New York
by Rene
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 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)