Poems
San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1944. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo; [6], 59, [2] pp. in publisher's beige linen spine with paper label and red paper-covered boards A Near Fine copy (front hinge starting) in unprinted dust jacket (closed tears, fading). Item #18572
Gleason was a US poet and dramatist. She was the founder of the San Francisco Poetry Guild and, in 1947, the director of the first poetry festival in the United States, laying the groundwork for what became known as the San Francisco Renaissance. In April 1947, Gleason organised the First Festival of Modern Poetry in San Francisco. Gleason had roots in the Berkeley Renaissance, and so could provide the framework for an initial (and sanctioned) gathering of voices who inspired a generation. In the space of two evenings, with twelve poets, including William Everson, Muriel Rukeyser, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer, Madeline Gleason read and performed for an audience of young poets and poetry lovers. This was the beginning of another movement, at least in the public's eye, that would coalesce in San Francisco on October 7, 1955 with Allen Ginsberg's Howl, a Reading that has gone down in history as the moment of conception of the Beat movement. This is her first book. Limited to 250 copies; Grabhorn Press 400.
Price: $150.00