The Temple. Janet Hamill. Telephone Books. 1980.

The Temple.

Telephone Books, 1980. Item #2770

Perfect-bound wrappers. Cover designed by the poet, with photographs by Neil Winokur and final photograph by Hamill. Printed by Red Sun Press, typeset by Ed Hogan of Aspect Composition in Somerville, MA, and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.


Winokour and Hamill traveled throughout the world during the 1970s, both taking year-long breaks from their day jobs at New York City bookstores to explore Morocco, Nairobi, and other places; Hamill describes this book as predominantly about her experiences in Africa. 


The Temple is dedicated to Roberto Cesar Abalo, a former lover of Hamill’s; the poem “Sacrifice” addresses the relationship and evokes Hamill’s poetic connection to Baudelaire. Hamill remembers, “We were forever breaking up and getting back together. At one point I just wanted him out of my life. So I’m sacrificing him in this poem” (Interview with Bob Holman, “The Holiness of the Alphabet: An Interview with Janet Hamill,” Rain Taxi, Fall 2017)


This is from an edition of 750 copies, of which 26 copies are lettered A to Z and signed by the poet and lithographer (Winokur). This is from the regular edition, with slightly rumpled wrappers (seemingly on account of binding structure), else fine.

Price: $25.00

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