Published by Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, New York, 1977
Seller: Cameron-Wolfe Booksellers, Taos, NM, U.S.A.
Stapled Wraps. Condition: Very Good. The exceedingly scarce [de facto] first issue of the Purchase Poetry Review, which - as a subsequently annual publication - suggests that this publication appeared in 1977. Purchase College, State University of New York - early 1970s brainchild of Nelson Rockefeller, designed as the perfect "menage a trois" of arts, liberal arts, and sciences - hip, intense, an isolated oasis, an honors/pass/no-credit grading system. Then came the budget cuts and the insidious letter-grade quantification of achievement, along with Albany's increasingly conservative answers to the question: "What is higher education?" The campus has always been fertile soil for poetry, blossoming as "art", self-therapy, protest, confession, or escapism. Here is another annual selection of works, mostly by students, but with an occasional contribution from professors and staff, as well as "outsiders" (also including Debbie Schull, Elinor Schull, Amy Smiley, Paul Spillenger, Harold Stevenson, William Tyler, and Anonymous). 40 pages. CONDITION: a tight, unmarked, uncreased copy with moderate shelf-wear, plus significant age-toning to the card-stock cover. This rare treasure is now in a clear, protective polypropylene bag with archival backing board.