THE POET AND HIS PUBLISHER

Burnshaw, Stanley (1906–2005)

In the Terrified Radiance [Correspondence and Multi-Volume Association Cache]

New York: George Braziller, 1972. Two Hardcovers with Dust Jackets, accompanied by original typed correspondence.
This remarkable three-part association archive documents the raw creative anxieties, backend literary politics, and enduring seventeen-year friendship between major American poet Stanley Burnshaw and Horizon Press founder Ben Raeburn.

Uniting Burnshaw's unfiltered private letter with the very physical volumes they promised, the collection tracks the public launch and private defense of a significant poetry collection against the changing landscape of the mid-century New York avant-garde.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Content: Includes a highly candid, typed letter signed by Burnshaw from Martha's Vineyard dated September 3, 1972, defending his verse, venting about contemporary poetry circles, and reporting an extended visit from premier critic Alfred Kazin. 
+++ Association Inscription 1: Features the primary presentation copy of the book, inscribed on the front free endpaper: For my friend Ben from Stanley · 9.6.72—signed exactly three days after the initial letter was typed. 
+++ Association Inscription 2: Features a secondary first-printing volume containing a witty, retrospective inscription dated December 9, 1989: Copy #2 for my dear friend Ben, who can have a third if he 'needs' it. — Stanley. 
+++ Associated Names: Ben Raeburn (Recipient/Publisher); Alfred Kazin (Subject); Richard Seaver (Subject); Richard Howard (Subject); Adrienne Rich (Subject). 
+++ Imprint: New York: George Braziller, 1972 [Books]; Vineyard Haven, Mass.: Privately issued, 1972 [Letter]. 
+++ Specs: Two octavo volumes and one single-page quarto typed letter. x, [2], 15-208 pages with notes per volume.

CONDITION: The collection is in Very Good to Fine condition throughout. The two volumes are bound in clean, tight, and square light red cloth with bright gilt spine titles. The interiors are pristine, with clean text pages showing only light, even age-toning. The dust jackets retain the original $6.50 price, showing minimal shelf wear, a hint of rubbing at the upper rear spine corner, and typical age fading to the spines and white areas. The accompanying 1972 letter is exceptionally clean, featuring crisp type, original horizontal mailing folds, and a bold, fluid signature in blue ink.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES
+++ The Poetry Wars of 1972: The September letter preserves a fierce defense of Burnshaw's In the Terrified Radiance following Richard Howard's refusal to provide a promotional blurb, with Burnshaw colorfully dismissing Howard's output as formalist library poetry. 
+++ Generational Ideology: Captures a vital snapshot of early 1970s critical shifts, documenting Burnshaw's explicit rejection of emerging radical forms, noting that a towering contemporary figure like Adrienne Rich leaves him totally unmoved. 
+++ Critical Lineage: Documents primary biographical data regarding a house visit from Alfred Kazin, capturing a sneak preview of Kazin's landmark 1973 critical study Bright Book of Life while the table of contents was still a work in progress. 
+++ Provenance Integrity: Directly descended from the personal estate files of Ben Raeburn, establishing an unbroken line of ownership that transforms these individual pieces into a documented chapter of independent New York publishing history.

SUBJECTS: Stanley Burnshaw, Ben Raeburn, Horizon Press, George Braziller, Alfred Kazin, Richard Howard, Adrienne Rich, American Poetry, New York Literary Circles, Publishing History. GENRES: Association Copies, Inscribed First Editions, Archive, Correspondence, Poetry.

Item #22040
ISBN: 0807606529

Price: $525.00