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Broadside Set
(San Francisco), (Four Seasons Foundation), (1963-1964). Three broadsides: Gary Snyder's Nanao Knows, Lew Welch's Step Out Onto the Planet, and Philip Whalen's Three Mornings. [McNeil A7.] Each reproduced by photo-offset from the author's own calligraphy and printed in an edition of 300 copies on the occasion of a reading by the three poets at Longshoreman's Hall, San Francisco, June 12, 1964. Each broadside is signed by its author. Snyder, Welch and Whalen first met when they attended Reed College, a progressive school in Oregon; the friends later became three of the most influential poets of the Beat generation. Don Carpenter, a friend of Richard Brautigan and an important figure in the Bay Area literary scene, organized the Free Way Reading with the three poets; Don Allen, another key figure in the Bay Area literary scene -- his nascent publishing company, the Four Seasons Foundation, would later publish both Snyder and Brautigan -- printed the broadsides to commemorate the reading. An important occasion, linking three key poets of their time. Welch disappeared in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1971; Snyder found a suicide note at his camp, but no body was ever found and his fate remains one of the mysteries of that time. Each broadside is 9-1/2" x 12-1/2", and mildly sunned as though previously framed; near fine. A nice set. [#031495] SOLD

All books are first printings of first editions or first American editions unless otherwise noted.