Imagine the South by George Woodcock (1947)

 Imagine the South

George Woodcock

The Untide Press

Pasadena, CA

(c) 1947

It is my contention that the poetry chapbook movement, if it could be called that, had an epicenter and that location was called Civilian Public Service Camp #56, outside of Waldport, Oregon where a group of conscientious objectors during World War II made a movement out of letterpress ink and staples and hand-sewn thread. 

This is not the earliest of these efforts but it is certainly one of them. 

There is a well written history of this collaborative effort that took place as Camp Waldport entitled Here on the Edge authored by Steve McQuiddy and published by Oregon State University Press. At the heart of this story and of the enterprise that grew out of it was William Everson. Some of the ideals that led to The Untide Press made their way to San Francisco and were incorporated into the "Renaissance" there which coincided with the birth of the Beat Generation. 

There may well be more than one birth site for the poetry chapbooks at the time of the second Great War but this place was better than most and had far most influence that any I am aware of. 

This particular item was published in 1947, after the war and once the Camp had closed. Those who made up The Untide Press had scattered hither and yarn but George Woodcock was one of the founders and was a Canadian at the Camp. The true begins of the "press" dates back to early 1943 as a newsletter distributed to other CO Camps across the country and grew into a "press" afterwards. 

One of 1000 printed. Unpaginated. And gorgeous!