Friday, March 27, 2020

At Least A Glint by Harry D. Eshleman (1996)


At Least A Glint
Harry D. Eshleman
Eshleday Specialday Press
Kutztown, PA
© 1996

In 2019, while on the way to a quick weekend vacation in Ocean City, MD, I made a quick stop in Trappe, MD (a small truck-stop of a town) at the incredible Unicorn Book Shop and there found this book which definitely belonged in Berks County, PA.

Having moved to the DC area in 2004, I was unaware of his passing until I did some researching after bringing this book home. I have done a slight edit on his obit, but wanted to present it for those who didn’t / couldn't have known him :

“Harry David Eshleman, 85, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family May 10, 2015, in the Kutztown Manor. Born in Chicago, IL, to Paul and Selina Eshleman on October 4, 1929, he was raised in Lititz, PA. He was a graduate of the University of Chicago and received his Master’s from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Veteran of the Army, having served in Korea.  He was a member of St. John’s UCC, Kutztown. He retired from Kutztown University in 1989 following 25 years of teaching.  He taught communication courses and was also a professor of journalism and served as advisor for the school newspaper and yearbook.  In addition to writing poetry, he was actively involved in promoting poetry.  He served on the board of the Wallace Stevens Poetry Society and was President from 1995-1999.  He hosted “Poet’s Pause” on BCTV for many years.  He served as editor of Bookends, the publication for the Berks County Library Association.  He published a large number of works ranging from poetry to essays.”

What was missing from the obit was that he had his own imprint : Eshleday Specialday Press. I haven’t found anything on the Net about the press but I suspect that he published a few other folks as well as his own work after retiring from Kutztown University.

I got to know him at the time he was President of the Wallace Stevens Chapter of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society and I was making noise leading up to the formation of the Berks Bards and the BerksBardfest poetry festival. I was on his poetry program a few times as well. Always well dressed and a bow tie.

Poetically, we are definitely from different generations but because of Eshleman, and poet Harry Humes, Berks County did have poetry flowing through the trees decades before Bardfest came along.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Holding Up the Wall by Julia Vinograd (1987)


Holding Up the Wall
Julia Vinograd
Cal-Syl Press
Oakland, CA
(c)1987

Never heard of or found anything about Cal-Syl Press, maybe it was a print shop? Another in the annual output of Julia Vinograd. Photo by Harold Parish. 42 pages.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Street Spices by Julia Vinograd (1973)


Street Spices
Julia Vinograd
Thorp Springs Press
Berkeley, CA
© 1973

Thorp Springs Press was the publishing child of Paul Foreman who named the press for a location in his native Texas west of Fort Worth. He started the press while studying at Berkeley and published a few of Julia Vinograd’s early chapbooks.

This is one of those. It was published in 1973. Unpaginated. Staple-bound. Filled with her street level observations and witticisms. Cover photo by David Soffa.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Lot of My Sister by Alison Stine (2001)



Lot of My Sister
Alison Stine
The Kent State University Press
Wick Poetry Chapbook Series Two
Kent, OH
(c)2001

This is the tenth chapbook in the 2nd series. Ms. Stine's chapbook was the Wick Student Prize winner of that year. The Wick Poetry series was really something in the early "Aughts". 25 pages of incredibly rich poetry.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

We Are Gentlemen of Leisure by Dense Lens, Brian Marley and Asa Beneveniste (1975)


We Are Gentlemen of Leisure
Dense Lens, Brian Marley and Asa Beneveniste
Trigram Press
London, UK
(c)1975

I read a story online about a famous bookstore in Salt Lake City that was going to be forced to close within the year due to some downtown renovation project which happens all too often when a bookstore doesn't know the space they operate in, and so I did a bit of research and found that the bookstore, Ken Sanders Rare Books, had an inventory so I went through it, especially the poetry listing, and saw this item. Now, I have had a different item by Asa Beneveniste that I traded to a fellow poet for a book of poetry bumperstickers. Yeah, I am thinking about the cow and magic beans too. But at the time I felt like I should since I felt like I got that item under false pretenses. The seller had misspelled Asa's name..... and I scored the purchase for .99 cents. Anyway, I was familiar with Trigram and actually met Tom Raworth in Washington DC not longer before he passed away.

It's a great booklet. Unpaginated. The 3 poets wrote all the poems in this collection within 6 months of the publication of the book. Glassine dust wrapper. This is one of only 500 printed.

I suggest that you might want to check out Ken Sanders' online inventory before he's forced out of his foothold in the city.

Friday, March 20, 2020

the Bay area takes another loss

Chris Trian, who illustrated many of Julia Vinograd's books, died the other day. Another loss to the Bay area literary and art community. And so it goes.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Canciones by Antonio Machado (translated by Robert Bly) 1980

Canciones
Antonio Machado
translated by Robert Bly
Toothpaste Press
West Branch, Iowa
© 1980

What was it about Robert Bly? I mean, really? He seems to have been the translator of first approach. I love the books created by Allan Kornblum which is why I got this beautiful item. But I am ambivalent about Bly.

The work here is by Antonio Machado who published these poems in 1930 in a large collection entitled Nuevas Canciones which was published in Spanish.

Love the presentation of the work and yet, I can see how Allan was willing to transform Toothpaste into a different press making perfect bound books (Coffee House Press). A tiny item like this gets lost onto standard bookshelves. Slivers of nothing indeed.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

updating Jean Stair

I was going through my bins of chapbooks and re-discovered the two books by Jean Stair which re-sparked my curiosity about her so I posted something on Facebook and someone posted a link to the piece I wrote here in January of 2016 about her originally - only while looking at it, did I see that someone had posted additional information. It seems that "Jean Stair" was really Mrs. Grace Stair, who was a painter and poet, and wife of Professor Bird Stair who taught at CCNY for many years and died in 1957.

The two books I have were published in 1955 and printed in Connecticut. I haven't found out anything else about Grace. No images of any of her paintings. These might have been the only books that were ever published of her poetry. She was not part of the Beat generation of the New York School. The obituary for her husband was a bit dismissive of her. After all, she was only his wife.

I will keep searching.

Friday, March 13, 2020

Pam's Chapbook by Pam Coulter Blehert (1999)


Pam's Chapbook
Pam Coulter Blehert
self published
(c)1999

Primarily known as a painter, and married to a poet, Ms. Blehert thin chapbook is a pleasant reminder of the early days of online printing. Although technically published by Words & Pictures East Coast LLC, this is a nice compliment to her other artistic endeavors. Another tiny gem from the Northern Virginia literary community which is constantley surprising me.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

3:33 Infinity Heart by Stacy Blint (2019)



3:33 / Infinity Heart
Stacy Blint
adjunct press
Milwaukee, WI
(c)2019

There's a new player in the small press community of Milwaukee. A husband wife and cat team known as "adjunct" press. They aren't entirely familiar with the history of the small presses of Milwaukee past but they aren't completely ignorant of them either. And they are making a splash all the same. The one I chose to read and perhaps mention was this one : Stacy's Blint's 3:33 Infinity Heart. I like her usage of the language and the flow of her work. The production is minimal which does not subtract from the quality of the word. It allows for the poems to be the focus. And it that sense, it's perfectly presented. I expect we will be hearing a good deal more from adjunct press in the future. I certainly hope so, at least.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Selected Poems by Gil Orlovitz (1960)


Selected Poems
Gil Orlovitz
Inferno Press Editions
(c)1960

When I first arrived in Philly and found myself in the folds and aisles of Robin's Bookstore on 13th Street, and got to know and learn the history of literary Philadelphia from the one and very only Larry Robin himself, one of the stories he shared with me was that of Gil Orlovitz. Apparently, Gil was part of a writer's community that hung out at Horn and Hardart in Philly. Larry's father knew Gil and the other writers of that group. Gil, legend had it, died on a street in New York City in 1973. I became familiar with his work without ever purchasing any of it. His novels were out of print (and the few copies that were listed on the internet were pricey). I was less familiar with his poetry. Adn then years later, I see this one - floating on the internet. 50 pages.

The seller and I haggled a bit; not on price but whether or not it was a "pamphlet", which it isn't. But I am extremely happy to have it. Mostly sonnets. I do have one other piece of writing of his, actually, that I found in an publication called 'Circle' and the particular issue was #7-8 published in 1946. Circle was published in Berkeley, CA and this volume also contained work by Bern Porter, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, Anais Nin, Robert Duncan and others.