City Lights Books: A Descriptive Bibliography FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 1955, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti began issuing small paperback books of poetry from City Lights Bookshop in San Francisco. Since then the press has published over 230 titles and 1,500 authors. Throughout its history, City Lights Books has reflected a broad range of ideas and fresh thought, publishing writers from every part of the world and cutting across lines of culture, age, and gender. Authors include Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Burns, Hilda Doolittle, Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Goethe, Walt Whitman, Gregory Corso, and Karl Marx. The Cooks provide complete information on all City Lights publications from 1955 through 1990, with full decriptions of title pages, collation, contents, bindings, dates published, and print run.
Author Biography: Ralph T. Cook (BBA, National University, San Diego, CA) is a former rare book dealer and editor of a little magazine, "Atticus Review". He has studied the Beat Generation writers for the past 20 years and is the author of "The City Lights Pocket Poets Series: A Descriptive Bibliography" (1982).
FROM THE CRITICS
Wilson Library Bulletin
...meticulously thorough....serves as a record of the avante-garde's delightfully eclectic taste over more than three decades..
Papers Of The Bibliographic Society Of America
...an inevitable resource for the bibliographers of a host of modern authors as well as providing the basis of the history of an important publishing venture..
Booknews
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's famous press has published authors including Kerouac, di Prima, Ginsberg, and Corso, as well as Whitman, Hemingway, and Joyce. This bibliography covers all City Lights publications from 1955 through 1990, providing detailed description of title pages, collation, contents, bindings, dates published, print run, and, for collectors, information on identifying the first printing. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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