A Celebration of Rudy Burckhardt 1914-1999

[New York]: [Unknown], [1999]. Plastic coil binding, acetate front cover, black vinyl rear cover, 11 x 8-5/8 in. [39] leaves, photocopied rectos only. Contents include reproductions of manuscript and printed material, many with (likewise reproduced) annotations, either authorial or in an unknown hand and denoting the identity and/or date of the contribution. Several photo reproductions throughout, as well as a copy of Burckhardt's obituary from the New York Times. Toning to acetate cover along spine, else about fine. OCLC locates only two institutional holdings, at Columbia University and MoMA.

A collection of poems and personal remembrances about  Swiss-born photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt (1914-1999), a vital contributor to and documentarian of the art and poetry scenes of mid- to late-20th century New York. The present volume attests in particular to Burckhardt's close connections to the New York School of poetry, with contributions from Bill Berkson, Bill Corbett, Kenneth Koch, Alice Notley, Ron Padgett, and Anne Waldman. Other contributors include friends, neighbors, and family of Burckhardt's, including his first wife Edith Schloss. Many of the contributions are addressed to Yvonne [Jacquette], Burckhardt's widow, though we have been unable to ascertain whether it was she or some other party who compiled and created this volume, nor do we have any sense of its edition size. The holding at MoMA includes a laid-in slip for a memorial held at Cooper Union on November 2, 1999, indicating, though not absolutely, that copies may have been distributed at that event. Regardless, a scarce document, important both as testimony to the lasting impact that Burckhardt had on his peers, and as an addition to the contributors' respective bodies of work; of the included poems, we find numerous that appear never to have been collected elsewhere.