BEATITUDE #4 (May 30, 1959)

San Francisco: John Kelly, 1959. First edition. Very good.. Early issue of this "quintessential 'Beat' publication" (Clay & Phillips), the brainchild of Allen Ginsberg, Bob Kaufman, and John Kelly. Originally conceived as a weekly newsletter for the North Beach literary scene, the first issue of BEATITUDE was issued in April 1959. Though it quickly abandoned that schedule, the little mag soon became an important outlet for beat literature and is now one of the defining publications of the early mimeo revolution. As Bob Kaufman put it: "Designed to extoll beauty and promote the beatific life among the various mendicants, neo-existentialists, christs, (truncated) poets, painters, musicians, and other inhabitants and observers of North Beach." Originally printed out of the Bread and Wine Mission run by Congregationalist minister Pierre Delattre (who also published in the magazine), BEATITUDE included the work of its founders, as well as Jack Kerouac, Michael McClure, and numerous other notable San Francisco poets and writers. All issues of BEATITUDE's original run (it ceased publication in the early 1960s, but resumed in the later) are now rare. Dig it. 11'' x 8.5''. Original mimeographed side-stapled wrappers. [19] mimeographed pages on as many leaves, printed rectos only. Minor wear, soil. Else sound. (Inventory #: 52282)