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Guide to the Auerhahn Press records, 1959-1967
BANC MSS 71/85 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Auerhahn Press Records,
Date (inclusive): 1959-1967
Collection Number: BANC MSS 71/85 c
Creator: Auerhahn Press
Extent:
Number of containers: 8 boxes
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 with contributors, manuscripts, mock-ups, corrected proofs, mailing lists, accounts, and samples of ephemeral
printing.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of item], Auerhahn Press records, BANC MSS 71/85 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
- One portfolio transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library (7/78)
Of the beginnings of the Auerhahn Press in San Francisco, famed for its printing of the works of the new young poets, David
L. Haselwood in his
Deposition says, "During the summer of 1958 I drifted around San Francisco talking endlessly with painters such as Robert LaVigne and
Jesse Sharpe and poets Lamantia, McClure, Wieners, and reading all the live poetry and prose I could get my hands on. It was
at this time that it occurred to me that the press could mean a great many things ... "From this intense exposure to the active
literary scene in the Bay Area grew the desire to see these writers published without the great delays imposed by larger printing
establishments.
A short while later in 1959 appeared the first publication of the Auerhahn Press, John Wieners'
The Hotel Wentley Poems. After this initial experience, in which the actual printing was done by a commercial printer, Haselwood was convinced that
he should not only design all future books himself, but also print them. He stated his concept of printing in this manner
"The first and final consideration in printing poetry is the poetry itself. If the poems are great they create their own space,
the publisher is just a midwife during the final operation . . . " With this ideal in mind, Haselwood tackled the publication
of Philip Lamantia's
Ekstasis, and went on to the printing of Michael McClure's
Hymns to St. Geryon. Though its limited financial resources were drained by this last publication, the press, augmented by Andrew Hoyem, continued
its publication of controversial and avant-garde works, such as Lamantia's pamphlet
Narcotica, until its dissolution in January 1965, and acquired a reputation for quality of printing and design.
The collection, purchased from Serendipity Books, January 5, 1971, and from Andrew Hoyem, June 7, 1971, contains correspondence
from 1959 to 1967 with poets and authors Philip Lamantia, John Wieners, William Burroughs, William Everson, Robert Duncan,
Michael McClure, Alan Ginsberg and others manuscripts; illustrations; mock-ups; corrected page proofs; examples of the printed
works; and samples of ephemeral printing.