Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2007 Issue
"Beat" and Other Poetry, Literature, and Ephemera from Brian Cassidy
Forgotten Poetry Center program lists unknown poet Frank O'Hara.
Item 29 is an early and forgotten reference to Frank O'Hara, American poet of the "New York School." The item is a program for a poetry reading at the YM & YWHA Poetry Center, on March 29, 1951. There were three "winners of the competition for Poetry Center Introductions," Harry Duncan, Roy Marz, and Daniel G. Hoffman. O'Hara received an honorable mention. At the time, O'Hara was working on a Masters at the University of Michigan (he would win an award for his dissertation later that year which launched his career), meaning he did not attend the reading and may not have been aware of it. The program includes a poem by O'Hara, and is his earliest printed work outside of those published at Harvard while he was an undergraduate. $200.
Item 36 is a collection of four wire service photographs of John Steinbeck or his first wife, Gwyn. Two were taken of him after winning the Nobel Prize, one is a youthful publicity shot, and the other is of Gwyn. They date from 1945-62 and came from the reference files of the San Francisco Examiner. $200.
Brian Cassidy, Bookseller may be reached online at www.briancassidy.net, telephone 831-656-9264.
