Iron Horse; Inscribed by Ginsberg and Gregory Corso
Toronto, Canada: The Coach House Press, 1972. True First Edition. Metallic card cover of a speeding train, giving a blurred perspective of motion. The pages are all of a monotone light sepia, each page a sequential graphic of a passing train in background of the text. 8" x 5.5", 52 pp., oblong oriented, printed in an edition of 1000 copies. Inscribed by Ginsberg on the title page to "Arthur and Kit Knight, June 17, 1990". Gregory Corso has written the following exhortation on the inside front cover, "Allen, you'll always have your Iron Horse, no one could take it from you / love Gregory". Notation by Ginsberg on page 19.
Arthur Knight was a professor of English at California University of Pennsylvania. The Knights and Ginsberg had a long and extensive relationship. The Knights took their publisher's name directly from a line in Jack Kerouac's Belief & Technique for Modern Prose: "the unspeakable visions of the individual". While the first few years were standard stapled literary journals, by the mid-1970s the press transitioned into perfect-bound, book-length trade paperback anthologies and diaries. They published at least 14 distinct major volumes/anthologies, alongside a handful of smaller broadsides and novellas. The inaugural issues featuring contributions from Norman Mailer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and early posthumous Jack Kerouac pieces.
Allen Ginsberg was not only a frequent contributor to their pages, but he was also a close friend of the Knights and a major supporter of their archival work. Some of Ginsberg's notable appearances in their catalog include: He contributed poetry and letters as early as Vol. 1, No. 2. Literary Criticism & Essays: In the 1973 Herbert Huncke issues, Ginsberg provided a significant introductory essay titled "On Huncke's Book." Ginsberg gave multiple deep-dive interviews to the Knights regarding his time with Kerouac and Burroughs. Because Arthur and Kit were avid photographers, Ginsberg was also featured in dozens of original photographs throughout the volumes—most famously as a cross-legged, beard bedraggled poet on the front cover of their Tenth Anniversary Issue in 1980.
On Arthur's eulogy page at Kerouac.com (photo attribution) can be found a photograph of Ginsberg along with Arthur and Kit at the COSMEP (Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers) Conference, June 15-22, 1980, inclusive of the dating of the inscription on the title page. The conference featured readings and workshops by both Ginsberg and the Knights. The conference broadside announced the following to present as well: poet Diane Wakoski, Michael Hogan, Mark Harris, and Laurel Speer. How Corso came to inscribe the book, apparantly before it was the Knights', we may never know everything of the peripatetic life of Corso. Near fine. several [4] very light, small horizontal creases near the spine, a horizontal crease along the front at spine, incidental light wear at top and bottom edge of spine, a few light scratches, visible at an angle, on front and back cover . A very collectible association copy of a book which is perhaps the best copy available. Item #3401
"Darano on removing Disasters / See D. T. Suzuki's Manual of Zen Buddism... Repeat thrice" (p. 19 Ginsberg notation).
Price: $2,750.00