Beatitude (East) No. 16: September–October, 1960 (Signed by "Shig" Shigeyoshi Murao)
New York: St. Ansgar Press, 1960. First Edition, First Printing. Paperback. Thin octavo. 5.75 x 8.75 in. 24 pp. Near fine in original stapled wrappers with some toning and a very small pink mark to cover. Near fine. Item #7393
Contains work by Diane Di Prima, Christian Morgenstern, and others. Tellingly there is a plea at the foot of the rear panel: "Will someone in Manhattan please lend Beatitude an IBM Executive typewriter for a few hours each month?".
Number 16 of the scarce Eastern Beatitude Magazine that served as an extension of the West Coast edition. A rare copy being that it is inscribed on the upper cover by "Shig" (Shigeyoshi Murao). Shig Murao was the manager of the lengendary City Lights Book Store and played an important role in the San Francisco Beat scene. Famously, he was arrested in 1957 for selling a seventy-five-cent book of poetry called Howl to two undercover agents from the San Francisco Police Juvenile Squad. The trial that ensued, The People of California v. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, exonerated both Murao and Ferlinghetti of the charges against them in favor of the First Amendment.
Price: $700.00