NY: Totem Press, 1959. First edition, with two copies of errata slip laid in. 14pp. Saddle-stapled in illustrated card wraps. Better than very good, with light toning and rubbing to covers.
First edition of one of the most impactful poetic manifestos of the 20th century, which elucidated Olson's theory of "composition by field," an open poetic structure based not on meter but on "certain laws and possibilities of the breath." Published by LeRoi Jones' Totem Press imprint. Cover design by Matsumi Kanemitsu.
