Silver Flower Coo
New York: Kulchur Press, 1968. 1st Edition. Small quarto, publisher's stiff illustrated paper wraps, illustrated endpapers, printed on black and white paper stocks.
First edition of leading American surrealist poet Charles Henri Ford’s collection of concrete poetry, inscribed by him to 20th-century American composer Ned Rorem. Produced under the influence of Andy Warhol, whom Ford had recently befriended, the book comprises Ford's pop-inflected paste-up poems, with the covers a photo collage depicting personalities at Warhol's Factory. (A publication party for the book was held at the Factory, with Taylor Mead, Viva, Jack Smith, and Penelope Tree, among others, in attendance.) Ford is best known for his little magazine of the 1940s, View, which introduced surrealism to an American audience, and was a platform for European émigre artists and underground figures such as Joseph Cornell, Randall Jarrell, and Allen Ginsberg. Published by the independent Kulchur press and arts foundation. Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Ned Rorem, hailed as "the world's best composer of art songs," is known for his series of published diaries offering candid insights into his personal life, creative development, friendships and love affairs with prominent cultural figures. He had a special affinity for poetry, setting many poems by contemporaries and friends to music, and was featured in Ford's 1967 short film "Poem Posters," produced a year before the present work was published. Inscribed to half-title: "To Ned / with a / [circle drawn around printed word fragment flOW] / of love / Charles Henri." No dust jacket, as issued. Some creasing to spine, light rubbing and edgewear to wraps. Very good. Item #10432
$300.00