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Finding Aid to City Lights Books Records, 1953-1970
BANC MSS 72/107 c
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Collection Title: City Lights Books records
Date (inclusive): 1953-1970
Collection Number: BANC MSS 72/107 c
Creator:
City Lights Books
Extent:
15 boxes, 4 cartons, 1 oversize box, 1 portfolio, and 4 oversize folders
(circa 13 linear feet)
7 digital objects (9 images)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Consists of correspondence, editorial and administrative files. Correspondents include Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William
S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Paul Bowles, Jean Jacques Lebel, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, and William Carlos Williams, among
others. Editorial files may contain correspondence with authors, manuscripts, mock-ups and dummies, and other editorial materials.
Administrative files pertain to both the City Lights Books bookstore and publishing company, and contain lists of publications,
publicity materials, and clippings, and publicity and documents on the obscenity trial resulting from the seizure of Allen
Ginsberg's book Howl by U.S. Customs.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research, with the following exceptions:
Portions of this collection have been microfilmed; originals restricted.
Portions of this collection have been microfilmed; originals restricted.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], [Identification of item], City Lights Books Records, BANC MSS 72/107 c, The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley., BANC MSS 72/107 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Digital reproductions of selected items are available.
Title: City Lights Books Records: Additions, 1947-[on-going],
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 77/89 c
Title: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers, 1919-[on-going],
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 90/30 c
- Some photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
- Allen Ginsberg's Uncle Sam hat and placard carried at Peace Parade transferred to the Object Collections of The Bancroft Library.
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti materials have been transferred to the Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers, 1919-[on-going], BANC MSS 90/30 c.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Bowles, Paul, 1910-
Burroughs, William S., 1914-
Corso, Gregory.
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence.
Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-
Kerouac, Jack, 1922-1969.
Lebel, Jean Jacques.
Miller, Henry, 1891-
Patchen, Kenneth, 1911-1972.
Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963.
Online Archive of California.
American literature--20th century.
Authors, American--20th century.
Booksellers and bookselling--California--San Francisco.
Poets, American--20th century.
Publishers and publishing--California--San Francisco.
The City Lights Books records, relating to both the bookshop and the publishing company, were purchased in 1971 from the Gotham
Book Mart and Gallery, Inc.
Processed by Bancroft Library staff in 1973.
Rehoused in 2005 by Dean Smith and Holly Fox, under the supervision of Tanya Hollis.
City Lights Books, the first all paperback bookstore in the country, was started in San Francisco in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
in partnership with Peter Martin. Situated in North Beach on Columbus Avenue, it quickly became the center for Beat poets
and other experimental writers who figured strongly in the city's literary renaissance. On January 1, 1955, Ferlinghetti became
sole owner of the shop. Convinced that it was a natural for a publishing company, too, he began to publish paperbacks as well
as sell them. First to appear in 1955 was a book of his own poems,
Pictures of the Gone World, in the "Pocket Poet Series." In time, the series included works by Kenneth Rexroth, Kenneth Patchen, Allen Ginsberg, William
Carlos Williams, Robert Duncan, Gregory Corso, Frank O'Hara, Malcolm Lowry, Bob Kaufman, Philip Lamantia, and others. City
Lights also published a number of prose paperbacks, including Jack Kerouac's
Book of Dreams, Michael McClure's
Meat Science Essays, Alan Watts'
Beat Zen, Square Zen,
The Yage Letters by William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, Paul Bowles'
A Hundred Camels in the Courtyard, and Edward Dahlberg's
Bottom Dogs.
Scope and Content of Collection
Consists of correspondence, editorial and administrative files. Correspondents include Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William
S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Paul Bowles, Jean Jacques Lebel, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, and William Carlos Williams, among
others. Editorial files may contain correspondence with authors, manuscripts, mock-ups and dummies, and other editorial materials.
Administrative files pertain to both the City Lights bookstore and publishing company, and contain lists of publications,
publicity materials, and clippings, and publicity and documents on the obscenity trial resulting from the seizure of Allen
Ginsberg's book
Howl and
Other Poems by U.S. Customs.
The following materials are available on microfilm (BANC FILM 2794):
- Howl correspondence
- Winters, Yvor, correspondence
- Kerouac, Jack, correspondence
- Ginsberg, Allen and Louis Ginsberg correspondence
Additional Notes on Collection
Collection rehoused in 2005; box numbers have been changed from earlier processing, and some items were removed to oversize.
Otherwise, order of collection has been maintained.