Kaliflower Volume Five, Signed (2 results)

The large book gathering items from the small weekly newspaper Kaliflower, hand-delivered to communes in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s and early '70s. Original issues were printed by the Sutter Street Commune, who called themselves The Friends of Perfection, but were commonly known by the title of their inter-communal newsletter, Kaliflower. Founded by Irving Rosenthal, author of the beat-era novel Sheeper and former poetry editor of The Chicago Review and Big Table, Kaliflower was deeply influenced by the American ur-commune of John Humphrey Noyes, Oneida, as well as the political philosophy of the Diggers and other radical communal organizations. Like the newsletters, the book is not credited or signed by anyone. Rather, "through the paper and its unwritten supplement (the gossip of its carriers) local communes cross-pollinated each other with ideas, needs, and information." The paper's readership quickly expanded past the communards, and the creators of the paper decided to suspend it. However, with this book they promised to "re-state, in a simple and condensed form, the main insights about communal living that had appeared in it," culminating in this book, which collected the beautiful writings and illustrations that had circulated in the preceding editions of the newspaper. Notable entries include "Taking Lessons from the 'Little Lenin Library' to Heart," a guide against petty-bourgeois consciousness, "Jacking Up Masters," an apologia for leadership and temporary natural authorities, and "Fucking Upwards," one of the many guides for love affairs in the commune where they state that "there are no pendulum swings of ecstasy paid for by horror.". First edition. In beige illustrated cloth. Reflective sheet tipped in to page 218. 256 pp. 10 x 12 1?4 in. Very good; small spotting at spine, otherwise a tight clean copy.

First edition, presentation copy, inscribed at the foot of the last page, "a gift to Urban Ecology House from Sam and Irving". Irving Rosenthal was a founder-member of the San Francisco Sutter/Scott Street commune (known by members as the Friends of Perfection), established in 1967. As a student, he was poetry editor for the Chicago Review, but the paper's attempt to censor Beat writers prompted Rosenthal and many of his friends to resign. He co-founded Big Table and went on to create the Free Print Shop, the publishing arm of the Sutter/Scott Street commune. The Free Print Shop offered services to San Francisco communes in addition to publishing its own weekly inter-communal newsletter, Kaliflower. The paper was published between April 1969 and December 1971 and, at its height, was delivered to more than 300 communes. It was so popular that the Sutter Street commune is still widely referred to as the Kaliflower commune. The newsletter carried ideas, requests, and news between San Francisco's network of communes. Publication stopped in 1971 when the editors "realized we were working for a largely anonymous readership - something we had never intended to do". They suspended publication with the intention "to re-state, in a simple and condensed form, the main insights about communal living that had appeared in it". It took them seven years to sift through and select works from their back issues to create this book, a beautiful visual record of a key Haight-Ashbury-era publication. As with the newsletters, the book does not credit artists or authors. Rosenthal disliked signing his work and refused requests from friends; this copy is inscribed on his behalf by Sam, Rosenthal's "right-hand man"(Aronson). The recipients were Urban Ecology House, a San Francisco non-profit founded in 1975 which aims to help create more sustainable cities. Philippe Aronson, "Tracking Down My Literary Idol to a San Francisco Commune", Lit Hub, 28 Aug. 2019. Quarto. Vividly illustrated in colour throughout, one page illustrated with silver foil. Original grey cloth, illustration of a woman's head with hair spelling "Kaliflower" printed in black and white on front cover, extending over spine and rear cover, grey endpapers. Edges of covers faintly toned with a few marks: a near-fine copy.