Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the City Lights Books Records: Additions, 1947-[on-going] (bulk 1970-1994)
BANC MSS 77/89 c  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Collection Summary
  • Information for Researchers
  • Administrative Information
  • Scope and Content

  • Collection Summary

    Collection Title: City Lights Books Records: Additions,
    Date (inclusive): 1947-[on-going]
    Date (bulk): (bulk 1970-1994)
    Collection Number: BANC MSS 77/89 c
    Collector: City Lights Books
    Extent: Number of containers: 85 boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 13 oversize folders Linear feet: ca. 36
    Repository: The Bancroft Library.
    Berkeley, California 94720-6000
    Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
    Abstract: Correspondence, editorial files, publicity, clippings, of and pertaining to City Lights Books, and papers of owner-publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Correspondents include: Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Sam Shepard, and Richard Brautigan.
    Languages Represented: English

    Information for Researchers

    Access

    Collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], City Light Books Records: Additions, BANC MSS 77/89 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

    Related Collections

    Title: City Lights Books Records,
    Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 72/107 c
    Title: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers, 1919-[on-going],
    Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 90/30 c

    Material Cataloged Separately

    • Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
    • Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
    • Videotapes/sound recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library.

    Administrative Information

    Acquisition Information

    Additions to the records of City Lights Books were purchased by The Bancroft Library in 1976 and 1981. A subsequent addition was purchased as a gift from the Friends of The Bancroft Library in 1987, and another purchase was made in 1994.

    Scope and Content

    Additions to the records of City Lights Books continue documentation of this first all-paperback bookstore in the United States, started in 1953 on Columbus Avenue at Broadway in San Francisco. In 1955, Lawrence Ferlinghetti became sole owner; the shop continues today in its original location. These additions span the years from 1947 to the present, but chiefly cover 1970 to 1994. The records relate to both Ferlinghetti's book shop and publishing company, and include correspondence, information files, editorial files, publicity materials, and clippings.
    During processing of these additions and review of the initial collection of City Lights Books Records, some materials identified as personal rather than business-related were incorporated into the Lawrence Ferlinghetti Papers (BANC MSS 90/30 c).