A City Winter and Other Poems. Two Drawings by Larry Rivers

N. Y.: Tibor De Nagy Gallery, 1951. First edition of O'Hara's first book, the birth of the New York School of Poetry. One of 130 copies printed on French Arches paper out of a total edition of 150 copies (there were 20 copies on Japanese Kochi); this copy number 38. According to the colophon, A City Winter was published in March-April 1952 in an edition of 150 numbered copies, in two forms: a regular issue of 130 copies printed on French Arches paper [copies 21-150] and a deluxe issue printed on Japanese Kochi paper with an original drawing by Larry Rivers [copies 1-20]. However, according to Brad Gooch, 280 "folded paper" copies were printed in addition (truncated) to the copies on Kochi paper. The regular issue, bound in blue paper wrappers, sold for $1.00; the deluxe hardbound issue on Kochi paper with an original drawing by Rivers for $20.00. Brad Gooch, City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara (N. Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 213. Not all of the copies in the regular issue were bound, a fact probably explained by the large over-run of 130 copies of the regular issue - twice the number specified in the colophon. These additional copies, for which there may not have been enough of the decorative blue paper used for the original wrappers, appear to have been distributed as unnumbered "folded paper" copies, that is, as "folded and gathered sheets". Of the copies that have come on the market in the past twenty-five years, the majority of copies have been in the form of unbound sheets. In the present copy, the cover label has come detached, and is laid into this copy; there is light marginal wear and tear to the fragile blue wrappers; otherwise a very good copy. Although all copies of A City Winter are rare, the regular issue in its original blue wrappers is far and away the rarest, as compared to the same in unbound sheets              . 8vo, original decorated wrappers with printed paper label on front cover. In the present copy, the cover label has come detached, and is laid into this copy; there is light marginal wear and tear to the fragile blue wrappers; otherwise a very good copy. Although all copies of A City Winter are rare, the regular issue in its original blue wrappers is far and away the rarest, as compared to the same in unbound sheets              . (Inventory #: 7902)