Howl and Other Poems

During the era when McCarthyism and the American dream walked hand in hand, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested for selling this small, black and white paperback in his San Francisco bookstore. Allen Ginsberg’s free-association poetry, unabashed about homosexuality and drug use, was brought to trial for obscenity--during which Judge Clayton W. Horn famously asked, “Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?' A primal scream at the American standard, Howl stands beside Kerouac’s On the Road as a defining work of the Beat Generation. This first edition is one of only 1,000 copies printed. (Pocket Poets Series: Number Four). 12mo. 1st edition. Morgan A1.1. 1,000 copies printed, according to Morgan. Foxing to white wraparound cover label. Very light wear around edges. Pencil note to front fly, 'Nov 1', which was the date of publication. VG in wrappers.