This bibliography describes in detail a valuable collection comprising archival materials related to the Black Sparrow Press from its founding in April 1966 to November 1970. The press was one of the most important private presses on the west coast of the United States, and it endured for 36 years. Its importance came from publishing some of the most avant-garde writers of the period. Their editions, published in limited runs, represent some of the most remarkable examples of fine press work in the late twentieth century. Publisher John Martin sold his collection of D. H. Lawrence first editions in order to finance Black Sparrow and to regularly publish Charles Bukowski's poetry, among works of other innovative writers, including John Ashbery, Diane Wakoski, Charles Reznikoff, and Kenneth Koch. Totalling over a thousand items, the Black Sparrow Press Archive includes manuscript drafts, typescripts, corrected proofs and galleys, letters, posters, original artwork, photographs, master reel-to-reel recordings, and various peripheral materials related to publications of the press.
Michael O'Driscoll is Professor of English at the University of Alberta. His teaching and research interests include poetry and poetics, twentieth-century American literature, the history of the book, and critical and cultural theories. In addition to numerous articles, he has co-edited After Postructuralism: Writing the Intellectual History of Theory (2002) with Tilottama Rajan.
Jason Dewinetz is a writer, editor, typographer, printer, publisher, and educator originally from, and now living back in, the Okanagan Valley. He is the author of Clench (Gaspereau Press), Moving to the Clear(NeWest Press), The Gift of a Good Knife (Outlaw Editions), and In Theory (above/ground press). He runs Greenboathouse Press. Jason is currently an instructor in English, Creative Writing and Publication Design at Okanagan College.
"[This publication] covers some ninety-four broadsides, pamphlets, and books published between 1966 (a broadside by Bukowski) and 1970 (10 Poems for 10 Poets by Gerald Malanga, one of Andy Warhol's Factory crew). The material is meticulously described, file by file, and typically the files contain much the same material for each book: manuscripts, proofs, drawings, file copies of the book, and letters from the writers.... [The project] will be of great use to everyone who studies postmodern American poetry." -- Bruce Whiteman, Bibliographical Society of Canada -- 2003
