FLOW CHART
by ASHBERY, John:
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1991. First edition, first printing. First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dustwrapper illustrated by Trevor Winkfield. A fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt fresh, the contents, except for some light ink offsetting from a no longer present receipt to the front free endpaper, clean throughout. In the fine, bright dustwrapper. A lovely copy. In 1987, Ashbery's friend, the artist Trevor Winkfield (who would eventually provide the jacket illustration), suggested to the poet that he write a one-hundred-page poem about his mother, who had recently died. Ashbery, according to John Shoptaw, later "recalled thinking, 'Say, that's something I haven't done before!', hasten[ing] to add, 'of course, it's not about my mother'." 'Flow Chart', Ashbery's longest single poem, was indeed originally written as a one-hundred-page, single-spaced typescript (this framework was deliberately obscured in the published version). Beginning on December 8, 1987, the poet decided in advance to finish the one hundred pages on July 28, 1988, his sixty-first birthday. An oblique elegy (complementing the earlier fifty-dizain 'Fragment' written in the wake of his father's death), the poem is also capacious and brimming with life, its long Whitman-esque lines exploiting the full span of the volume's large quarto pages. The poem has been compared to Wordsworth's 'Prelude', and the first page's "emptiness / so sudden it leaves the girders / whanging in the absence of wind" may recall the "gentle breeze" fanning Wordsworth's cheek having "escaped / [...] the vast city" (Ashbery, though, remains "in the published city", charting the flow). 'Flow Chart' is dedicated to Ashbery's bibliographer, lover, and eventually husband, David Kermani. (John Shoptaw, 'On the Outside Looking Out: John Ashbery's Poetry' [Cambridge, MA: 1995]. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Lucius Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 24329
- Title
- FLOW CHART
- Author
- ASHBERY, John:
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- First edition, first printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1991
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Lucius Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Lucius Books
Biblio member since 2015
York, North Yorkshire
About Lucius Books
Our shop is located in central York within a stones throw of the historic Micklegate Bar and walls. We are open seven days a week and carry a high quality stock specialising in but not limited to first editions, signed copies, bound sets and childrens / illustrated books and original art. Our opening times are 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sundays.Lucius Books is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) trade associations. If you are unable to make it to the shop then our stock is available to view on our website at www.luciusbooks.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Quarto
- The term quarto is used to describe a page or book size. A printed sheet is made with four pages of text on each side, and the...
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- A.N.
- The book is pristine and free of any defects, in the same condition as ...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...