Vietnam/The Sixties 2, Sixties Literature 8

Designed by Andy Warhol

315. (WARHOL, Andy). Aspen, Vol. 1, No. 3. (NY): (Roaring Fork) (1966). A magazine in a box; this being the "Fab" issue, designed by Warhol and resembling a Fab detergent box. Contents include reproductions of paintings by Warhol, de Kooning, Johns, and others; a flex-disc by The Velvet Underground; a copy of The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a flip book of the Jack Smith film Buzzards over Baghdad; a "Ten Trip Ticket Book" printing excerpts from the Berkeley Conference on LSD; and more. Contents fine, in near fine clamshell "Fab" box. A landmark issue of an important underground publication. Uncommon.

316. (Watergate). VON HOFFMAN, Nicholas and TRUDEAU, Garry. The Fireside Watergate. NY: Sheed & Ward (1973). A collaborative, satirical take on Watergate by the Washington columnist and the creator of Doonesbury--written by Von Hoffman and illustrated by Trudeau. Trace shelfwear to the cloth at the spine extremities; fine in a very near fine dust jacket. Uncommon.

317. WATTS, Alan W. This Is It and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience. (NY): Pantheon (1960). A collection that includes his famous essay "Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen," among others. Watts was the most important individual in bringing Zen Buddhism and other Oriental philosophies to a Western audience during the years leading up to and including the 1960s. Building on his own earlier writings from the 1930s, as well as those of such British exponents of oriental philosophy as Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, Watts described eastern religions and mysticism in terms more immediate and personal than his predecessors had, and thus more accessible. Fine in a near fine, spine-faded dust jacket.

318. WATTS, Alan W. Psychotherapy East and West. (NY): Pantheon (1961). A comparison of the insights and assumptions of western psychotherapy with those of eastern religions and mystical philosophy. Signed by the author on the title page. Additional owner inscription on front flyleaf. Spine lettering flaking; otherwise near fine in a near fine dust jacket with modest edgewear. Book signed by Watts, who became a counterculture "superstar," are quite uncommon.

319. WATTS, Alan W. The Joyous Cosmology. Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness. (NY): Pantheon (1962). Foreword by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, while they were both still at Harvard, conducting LSD studies under the auspices of the University. This volume is a long essay on psychedelics by the foremost exponent in the West of Zen and other eastern philosophies. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Light cloth mottling; near fine in a very good dust jacket rubbed at the edges and folds and with one short edge tear. Illustrated with photographs of natural objects, whose structures reveal remarkable patterns and order within their supposed randomness and uniqueness. An important book for its influence on the counterculture: this was the main volume in which Watt's thoughts on eastern philosophies were explicitly connected, at length, with his descriptions of, and understanding of, the psychedelic experience. It became an underground bestseller, years later, in paperback.

320. -. Another copy. Owner name front endpaper. Very good in a good dust jacket with a couple of long edge tears and some internal dampstaining.

Self-Published Alan Watts Record

321. WATTS, Alan. Haiku Poems. (Sausalito): (MEA) (n.d.) [c. early 1960s]. A long-playing album, pressed on red vinyl. One side features haiku poems, the other a talk on haiku by Watts. Watts had a popular radio show in the late Fifties and Sixties, and a show for public television as well. This record, we have been told, was a self-produced effort. Fine in a home-made, plain sleeve, hand-lettered in the author's hand in red and black with Sanskrit (?) and English writing. The code number of the LP seems to indicate that it was the first one pressed by MEA, and we have heard of no other copies of this surfacing. Fine in a very good sleeve, splitting at the edges. A rare LP by the single most influential figure in importing and popularizing eastern thought in the West, and a somewhat reluctant counterculture "guru" who helped define the psychedelic experience in lofty metaphysical terms.

322. WATTS, Alan. Typed Letters Signed. April and May, 1967. Two typed letters signed, both written to his agent, Henry Volkening, and including instructions for handling an article, an introduction he has prepared for a book on the counterculture, and plans for reprinting Watt's own title--The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. The first letter is on the stationery of the Gopher Campus Motor Lodge in Minneapolis and concerns the sale of the introduction for Book of the Love Generation and promotion for The Book itself: "I look forward with pleasant horror to seeing the kind of promotion he will concoct. The RH [Random House] people think he is quite insane to take on a book of this kind." The second letter is written from the UK and concerns the dispositions of the people handling Watts' book. "Schwarz [sic] is going to promote under the headline `THIS BOOK WILL ABOLISH YOUR FEAR OF DEATH!' The things I have to live up to!" This letter bears the underlinings of the recipient and is folded for mailing. The first letter bears a few numbers in pencil; otherwise each is near fine. Watt's title--The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are--was a synthesis of his writings up to that point, incorporating much eastern philosophy and much in the way of analysis and metaphor derived both from everyday experience, the psychedelic experience, and the new experimental therapies that were sweeping the West Coast at the time.

323. (Weather Underground). Outlaws of Amerika. Communiques from the Weather Underground. (NY): (Liberated Guardian) (1971). Pamphlet printing numerous articles about actions taken by the Weather Underground during their first year of existence, including a number of the most famous acts of political violence from the Sixties era--the bombing of the Marin Country courthouse; the burning of the Bank of America at Isla Vista; and more--including the escape of Timothy Leary from jail, which was aided by members of the Weather Underground. Pages darkening; near fine in stapled wrappers. Scarce.

324. (Weather Underground). Prairie Fire. The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism. (San Francisco): Communications Co., 1974. A reprint of the Weather Underground's political statement--a radical overview of history and contemporary issues including Vietnam, racial strife, third world politics, etc. Spine-faded; very good in wrappers.

325. WHITESIDE, Thomas. Twiggy and Justin. NY: FSG (1968). A volume reprinting Whiteside's profile of the waif-ish fashion model that originally appeared in the New Yorker. Illustrated with photographs that did not appear in the original article. Very near fine in like dust jacket with an ink number on the front flap fold.

326. (Whole Earth Catalog). The CoEvolution Quarterly, No. 7. (Sausalito): (Point), Fall 1975. An early issue of this offshoot of The Whole Earth Catalog, this issue featuring a piece on "space colonies" which asks the question "Is the surface of a planet really the right place for an expanding technological civilization?" An important issue that sparked much controversy, resulting in a follow-up issue devoted entirely to responses to the space colonies proposal by numerous writers and thinkers, many of them associated, in some fashion, with the counterculture--Ken Kesey, Wendell Berry, and others. This issue includes contributions by Jerry Brown--then-Governor of California--E. F. Schumacher, and others.

327. WOLFE, Tom. The Mid-Atlantic Man. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1969). A collection of short pieces, published in the U.S. as The Pump House Gang. Boards bowed; near fine in a very good dust jacket with slight dampstaining at the spine base and one creased edge tear on the lower front panel.

328. WOLFE, Tom. Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers. NY: FSG (1970). Wolfe's hilarious send-up of wealthy New York liberals attempting to salve their social consciences by throwing parties for radical black militants and trying ever-so-hard to be hip enough to pull it off. Fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.

329. WOLFE, Tom. In Our Time. NY: FSG (1980). A collection of cartoons and caricatures by the multi-talented author, with his own sardonic captions, and a few short prose pieces. Many of the subjects involve people or events in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Fine in a fine dust jacket and signed by the author.

Early Woodstock Poster, with Original Location Listed

330. (Woodstock). Promotional Poster. (n.p.): (n.p.) (1969). An early design, by David Byrd: "Woodstock Music & Art Fair presents/ An Aquarian Exposition/ Wallkill, New York/ August 15, 16, 17." Precedes the decision of The Wallkill Concerned Citizens Committee, which forced the fair to Bethel. 13 1/2" x 22 3/16". Four color, with an Eve as Aquarian Water-bearer/Cupid in Eden theme--a much more elaborate and attractive design than the final poster that was produced--the famous dove-and-guitar, "three days of peace and music"--which was done on short notice after the venue was changed. Fine.

331. -. Same title, a mailer of the same design, but smaller. 4 1/2" x 7 1/4". Framed; fine.

332. WYNDHAM, John. Re-Birth. NY: Ballantine (1955). A novella by the author of The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos (later filmed as Village of the Damned), about a post-nuclear holocaust society and a group of mutant children who are telepaths. Lines were taken from this book to become the Jefferson Airplane's counterculture anthem, "Crown of Creation." One of the very scarce Ballantine hardcovers of the period, with pages browning as usual from the acidity of the paper used, otherwise a very good copy in a dust jacket that has been internally reinforced in spots with tape. A nice copy of a scarce, fragile and significant book.

333. -. Same title, the 1970 reissue (NY: Walker). Spine crown tanned; near fine in a very good dust jacket.

Yippie Handbill for 1968 Chicago Convention

334. (Yippies). Handbill for the Democratic Convention. NY: Youth International Party (n.d.)[1968]. In large red print, "Yippie!" and "Chicago Aug 25-30." On a background of small blue print with several hundred names of expected participants, ideas, goals and other "random" words: pulse, kiwis, Allen Ginsberg, leprechauns, etc. 8½" x 11". A scarce, ephemeral piece from the organizers of one of the most famous protests of the Sixties--at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention--and a group that, because it was so loosely knit, did not leave much of a paper trail. Fine.

335. ZAPPA, Frank. 200 Motels. (n.p.): (Gut City Press) (1972). Tapebound mimeographed sheets of the musical script by Zappa, printed on rectos only. With hand-colored cardstock covers and a photograph tipped to the front cover. An unusual, handmade production. Laid in is a letter to "Carl," written in German, from "W. Wolke, on behalf of Gut City Press. Foxing to covers; thumbed; near fine. Zappa founded the music group, the Mothers of Invention, and was one of the most iconoclastic figures associated with the counterculture of the Sixties. An unusual, possibly unique, item: we have never seen another copy like it.

336. ZAPPA, Frank. Them or Us (the Book). (North Hollywood): (Barfko Swill/Barking Pumpkin) (1984). Thick quarto, 351 pages, which, by appearances, was printed on a dot-matrix printer, photocopied and bound in wrappers. Apparently a self-published effort by Zappa, which includes various writings in screenplay, play and musical form. Owner name; spine-creased; very good.

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