Blue Orchid Numero Uno. Charles Plymell. Telephone Books. 1975.

Blue Orchid Numero Uno.

Telephone Books, 1975. Item #2790

Saddle-stitched wrappers. Text collages by Charles Plymell, printed in full color. Front cover painting by Joel Hubaut from his exhibition at the Galerie Noire in Paris, France. Back cover includes photograph of the author by Roger Angle, Wichita, Kansas, 1965. Published with support from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, via the New York State Council on the Arts.


The back cover further identifies Plymell as born in “Holcomb, Kansas, 1935, Scotch/English/Irish/Cherokee Indian descent.” Plymell is otherwise known as a participant in the Beat scene on the West Coast, a publisher of Zap Comix and NOW magazine, and a collagist influenced by William S. Burroughs’ cut-up method. By 1975, he had been refining this practice for a number of years. 


Plymell’s collages (example, pictured left) are printed in the center of each page to highlight their compact, colorful forms. Their spare lines and sparseness evoke images from space or aerial exploration, as the poems explore cosmic matter, madness, and other themes.


No statement of edition. This copy has a collage tipped in on cover page, and is signed by the author. Fine.

Price: $75.00

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