Wormwood Review: Complete run of 146 issues in 137 volumes [Number 3 signed by Malone]
Storrs, CT & Stockton, CA: Wormwood Review, 1960. Very Good +. Item #49516
Storrs, CT & Stockton, CA: Wormwood Review / Books & Magazines, 1960-1999. First Editions. Complete run of 146 issues in 137 octavo volumes; stapled illustrated wraps. Rubbing to edges; occasional heavier wear and staining predominantly to earlier issues; overall Very Good or better.
A full run of what was called "The greatest little magazine of all time," by writer and poet Alan Kaufman. In a retrospective included in the final issue, the editor tells of the bare bones operation that led to the first issue... "The press was housed in a barn on Wormwood hill. Its electric motor was defunct, so it had to be operated by spinning the flywheel by hand. To print, considerable physical effort was needed along with expert timing. The barn was drafty and the weather cold, so the editors/publishers/printers of the first issue had to be fueled with generous amounts of gin. The gin may explain the crooked placement of the text in many copies."
The little magazine would run for nearly 40 years, publishing household names and underground legends along the way. Number 9 notably includes a mimeographed copy of the "Malone Manifesto" broadside for little mags, which had appeared in Mainstream earlier that year. A few selections:
b) to publish new writers, who for various reasons don't fit into the mass consumption mold, and yet have the ability to communicate something valid...
f) to publish material, ideas and concepts which the masses are not ready to digest, cannot digest, will not digest, but will slowly accept as the more adventurous 'slicks' begin to catch the drift and copy...
h) to keep alive the rich American tradition of ironic, intelligent, baiting humor (yes, baiting; not biting)...
n) enough, enough.. but above all... to be alive and provocative, OK?
An updated and edited version of the above appear as Malone's "ten commandments" in the final issue. No complete runs in retail at time of this writing.
Alan Kaufman, "The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry." New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999; p. 417.
Price: $3,500.00