POETRY from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Seattle: Winn Books, 1986. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of Harrision's most popular collections of poems, published here in an edition of 350 copies (mostly not numbered, per Orr and Torrey bibliography, A19.a). 53 pages. A fine clothbound copy, no dust jacket, as issued. Not numbered, as issued. Signed by Harrison on the title page. The… Read more about this item

1989. A pencil drawing of a cobra head used to illustrate Jim Harrison's poem, "Cobra" in the Clark City Press edition of The Theory and Practice of Rivers. Three years earlier, Chatham illustrated another edition of the poems, but with atmospheric rather than literal drawings. Clark City Press was Chatham's imprint. The drawing measures roughly 2-3/4 by 5-1/2… Read more about this item

Seattle: Winn Books, 1986. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of Harrision's most popular collections of poems, published here in an edition of 350 copies illustrated with atmospheric drawings by Russell Chatham. The edition was mostly not numbered, per Orr and Torrey bibliography, A19.a. This is one of 215 copies accompanied by a suite of five prints from the… Read more about this item

Madrid: Insula, 1949. Second Edition. Trade paperback. Near fine. An expanded and re-organized edition of this autobiographical prose poems, first published in London in 1942, while the Spanish poet was in exile because of the civil war going on in his native Spain. A classic of mid-20th century Spanish poetry. Published in an edition of 500… Read more about this item

New York: Riverhead Books, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A poetry anthology collecting work from Latina writers, including Denise Chavez, Gloria Anzaldua, Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Rosario Ferre, and many others. 283 pages. First edition (first printing). Near fine in a near fine jacket. This copy is signed by seven contributors: Bryce Milligan, Mary Guerrero… Read more about this item

San Antonio: Wings Press, 2002. First edition. Trade paperback. Fine. The poetry of Alma Villanueva, like her prose, is drawn from the gut, her womb, and a vital point in an intelligent woman's mind."-Ana Castillo. Substantial. Small edition of 750 copies; this is one of 50 signed and numbered by the author. 203 pages. First edition (first… Read more about this item

San Antonio, TX: Wings Press, 2006. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. New poems, 1980 to 2005. A substantial collection from a leading Chicana poet, incorporating some of the 1998 collection of the same name (which was limited to 10 copies), with many previously unpublished poems. This limited edition, in a faux quarter-leather binding, was published in a… Read more about this item

Philadelphia: Tyndale, Mitchell & Co, 1870. Third Edition. Pamphlet. Good. The third separate printing of The Raven, following a Glasgow edition in 1869 (listed as BAL 16216 but not seen) and the illustrated version published by W. Jennings Demorest about July 1870 (Demorest's Illustrated Monthly printed an illustrated version of The Raven in its May 1870 issue of… Read more about this item

Iowa City, Iowa: The Stone Wall Press, 1960. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Weldon Kees mysteriously disappeared in 1955 and is presumed to have committed suicide; this book collects Kees's three published collections as well as uncollected poems. This book was an attempt (largely successful) to establish Kees's reputation as a major mid-20th century American poet. In his… Read more about this item

New York: Random House, 1948. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. A collection of long, political, narrative poems that argue that the US should not have gotten involved in World War Two. Jeffers' position was so unpopular that the publisher put a disclaimer in the book and on the jacket stating they disagreed with their author. This… Read more about this item

San Francisco: X-Ray Book Company, 1998. First edition. Paperback. The seventh installment of this literary journal combining found objects, broadsides, and tipped-in materials. Some contributors made 226 copies of their work (the entire print run); others sent things in to the editor who printed them (letterpress for broadsides). The contents were velobound with acetate wrappers. The covers are three-piece… Read more about this item

San Francisco: X-Ray Book Company, 1998. First edition. Paperback. The seventh installment of this literary journal combining found objects, broadsides, and tipped-in materials. Some contributors made 226 copies of their work (the entire print run); others sent things in to the editor who printed them (letterpress for broadsides). The contents were velobound with acetate wrappers. The covers are three-piece… Read more about this item

Pasadena, CA: X-Ray Book Co, 2003. First Edition. Fine. The ninth and penultimate issue of this literary series, each issued in a different format. This issue includes a number of printed broadsides in a cardboard box with a bellyband. It also includes a 45 record of shortwave broadcasts collected by Mike Powell. Contributors include Charles Bukowski, Thurston… Read more about this item

New York: John Day Company, 1934. Hardcover. Very good. Bright Ambush won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1935, when Wurdemann was only 24 years old, making her the youngest recipient of the award. [xvi], 76, [4] pages. First edition (first printing). A very good copy in the publisher's green cloth; lacking the uncommon dust jacket. This… Read more about this item

Pasadena, CA: X-Ray Book Co, 2004. First Edition. Fine. The tenth and final issue of this literary series, each issued in a different format. This issue includes a small-format chapbook and many small broadsides and single-sheet illustrations. The printed material is housed in a stiff paper box with a piece of wood as a spacer. Contributors… Read more about this item

Berkeley: Chicano Chapbook Series, 1998. First Edition. Pamphlet. Fine. The scarce first book from one of the 2023 MacArthur "genius" grant winners, a collection of poems published by Gary Soto as volume 19 in the Chicano Chapbook Series. Muñoz is now an acclaimed short story writer. [16] pages. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in illustrated… Read more about this item

Bellamar, Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones El Fortín, 2014. A poem, inspired by the author's trip to Mexico, bound in cardboard covers decorated with a handcolored portrait of the artist Frida Kahlo with a mounted artist's paint brush. The text of the poem is laser printed on white paper. The book, designed by the author, has handcolored and collage illustrations inside… Read more about this item

New York: Turtle Bay Books, 1992. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. The first hardcover collection of these poems, originally published by a small press in a paperback edition. 103 pages. First edition (first printing, stating First Hardcover Edition, with a number line ending in 2, as is the practice of Random House subsidiaries). A fine copy in a… Read more about this item

Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. One of 26 lettered copies of this short collection of poems. There were also 125 numbered copies. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in quarter-leather and marbled-paper-covered boards. This is letter B of 26 lettered copies signed by the author.

Portland, OR: Press-22, 1981. First Edition. Pamphlet. Fine. A prose poem, excerpted from O'Brien's then-forthcoming novel of the same name. This is one of 125 numbered copies in wrappers, signed by the author. First edition. A fine copy. No. 35 of 100 signed by O'Brien.