Third Pyramid Press

Third Pyramid Press Gina Baber

A Paratextual and Bibliographical Study of 'Howl' by Allen Ginsberg

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Selection of slides and quotes from a presentation at the Post-war Printing Conference

11th October, 2019. Weston Library, University of Oxford

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Read the paper here

"The priestly ex-book-thief arrived and thrust a small black and white book into my hand...I took it and flipped it open...and found myself in the middle of Howl...turned to the beginning and was caught up immediately in that sad, powerful opening...I knew that this Allen Ginsberg...had broken ground for all of us - simply by getting this published."

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- Diane di Prima Memoirs of a Beatnik, 1969 

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"The pamphlet, pocket size format, and stapled binding of the Pocket Poets Series is very important in the association with countercultural and alternative literature." 

"...it is important to remember that in 1956 when Howl and Other Poems appeared, the Paperback Revolution had yet to occur. For City Lights to sell and publish nothing but paperbacks was a culturally meaningful act, a way of creating a counter-canon that meshed perfectly with the Beats' anti materialist and counter modernist aesthetic."

"The cover design for Howl and Other Poems, creates a 'series emblem' and immediate association with alternative poetry; independent publishing; the San Francisco Scene; Beat Poets; and the Counterculture - a reader of the Pocket Poets Series and Howl would perhaps feel a part of this 'scene,' creating a sense of cultural inclusivity and identity."