The Floating Bear, no. 31. June 1965.
Item #4191
Side-stapled, mimeograph. Cover by Jess (credited Jess Collins). Jess' cover lends this, the 31st issue of di Prima's little magazine, its alternate title, Barely Afloat. This issue, guest edited by Alan Marlowe, contains almost exclusively works by the poet John Wieners, excepting a final entry from Robert Duncan ("NOTES from a reading at the Poetry Center, San Francisco, March 1, 1959"). An editor's note on the back provides the origins for each version of Wieners' poem "Procrastination," published within three times, and notes that his final piece in the issue, "Shoot the President," was a "musical commissioned by the American Theatre for Poets. John Wieners and Diane di Prima were to have collaborated on the lyrics, and Joel Oppenheimer was to have penned the book. The project was dropped after someone shot the president of the U.S."
Per the mailing address on the back, this copy is from the library of John Edgar Webb, editor of the little magazine The Outsider, and was obtained by the bookseller Laurence McGilvery during the publication process of his facsimile edition of The Floating Bear. To create the facsimile, McGilvery removed the staples of the issues used, though this issue remains bound, suggesting it was not used to produce the facsimile.
Very good, with the expected center fold from mailing, toning and smudging to the covers, and some staining on the back cover. Interior remains clean.
Price: $250.00