Struwwelpeter, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann

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Read some of Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter at the Early Comics Archive. Check out Struwwelhitler too. (And Wilhelm Busch's The Virtuoso.)

I recently bought this undated edition from the new Philadelphia bookstore Brickbat.

Modern European Poetry

Modern European Poetry introduced me to 50 percent of the poets now on my bookshelves. Although it seems to no longer be in print, you can still find it for a few dollars in used bookstores around the country. The anthology includes generous selections of poetry from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Spain (and some Latin American poets). It was edited by Willis Barnstone, Patricia Terry, Arthur Wensinger, Kimon Friar, Sonia Raiziss & Alfredo de Palchi, George Reavey, and Angel Flores (Flores is also responsible for Patti Smith's favorite, The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry and my favorite). My copy is the sixth edition from 1978 (Bantam; first published 1966).

Prepare to discover, among many others: Apollinaire, Supervielle, Reverdy, Eluard, Aragon, Michaux, Prevert, Desnos, Char, Trakl, Benn, Celan, Bachmann, Ritsos, Sahtouris, Elytis, Saba, Campana, Ungaretti, Montale, Mandelshtam, Machado, Vallejo, Huidobro, Guillen.

Seymour Chwast covers

Since writing about Seymour Chwast's dustjacket for Moravagine, I started to notice his work on books in my collection. Here are two:

--Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier, now reprinted by New York Review of Books, but here in a Time Life edition from 1965.

--The Symbolist Movement in Literature by Arthur Symons, in a Dutton paperback edition from 1958. Seems to be in print only by crappy public-domain-only reprint houses (I refuse to buy books from these publishers; you know who they are if you spend time searching for out-of-print books).




Some covers by Alvin Lustig and Paul Rand posted by Will Kane of World of Kane. The images are from Jackets Required by Steven Heller & Seymour Chwast, 1995.

Jim Tully and S. J. Perelman

Here are two personal recommendations from Ian Nagoski. Check out some of the records he sells at the record store he co-owns in Baltimore, The True Vine. He's recently been traveling around talking about his collection of 78s, promoting his compilation on Dust-to-Digital, Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Music (see my post and learn more at the label's site). Ian also sells some books at his shop, as I clearly remember buying Harry Mathews' masturbation masterpiece Singular Pleasures there.

Ian has handed me various books and records in the ten years or so I've known him.

1. Circus Parade by Jim Tully (copyright 1927; this edition 1932 Continental Books Inc, with illustrations by William Gropper).

2. Crazy Like a Fox by S. J. Perelman.

Seven Seas Books

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Johannes R. Becher

This post now resides on my other site 50 Watts: