Letters and Typescript of Poetry Book
School of Udhra (Photocopy typescript with letters)
Notes: A typescript prepared for the City Lights publication of a volume in the African American poet's "long song" series, accompanied by two related typed letters, signed.
This collection was described at the time of publication (1993) as taking "its title from the Bedouin poetic tradition associated with the seventh-century Arab poet Djamil, the Udhrite school of poets." Beyond the Bedouin influences, "Ogo the fox, the Dogon avatar of singleness and unrest, runs throughout... Threads ranging through ancient Egypt, shamanic Siberia, Rastafarian Jamaica and elsewhere figure in, inflected by conjunctive and disjunctive cadences inspired by jazz, Gnaoua trance-chant, cante jondo and other musics."
Mackey has won the National Book Award, the Bollingen Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Prize, among others. He was the subject of a New Yorker "profile" on April 12, 2021.
In a letter addressed to Bob Sharrard, an editor at City Lights, that accompanies the typescript Mackey describes this as "the final version," revised from the copy he submitted a year earlier. He also describes his intent to have the poems typeset based on the bottom margin, in effect rising up from the page, and discusses the problems of choosing a trim size for the book to accommodate that goal. He also suggests a piece of art for the cover, which was not used. Your cataloguer has not been able to obtain a finished copy of the book (which is surprisingly uncommon) to compare the proposed typesetting reflected in this typescript to the published version.
From the letter, Mackey sent one copy to Sharrard (presumably this one) and a second one marked for typesetting.
PROVENANCE: Sharrard to Serendipity Books (Peter Howard's notes in pencil on the first letter) to Eureka Books to Downtown Brown Books.
In sum: 1) A four-line typed letter dated 1991, sending the first version of the typescript to Sharrard; signed in full by Mackey. 2) A typed letter, dated 1992, transmitting (apparently) the present version of the typescript. 21 lines, or about 200 words. Signed in full by Mackey. 3) an 82-leaf photocopy typescript comb-bound into blue vinyl covers with a typed label on the front panel. Printed on rectos (front side) only.
Edition + Condition: Typescript near fine. Letters a bit creased at the edges, else fine.
Publication: [Santa Cruz]: [1991].
Item No: #308189
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