Totem Protectorates (3 results)

Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. A small, finely printed folio in publisher's grey handsewn wrappers, fore-edge untrimmed, with cover title in dark brown. Very near fine in sewn wrappers. One small moisture spot near top front edge (visible in photo) else fine. No name, bookplate, or markings of any kind. Pages are bright and white. A rare, influential early piece of environmental activism by the Zephyrus Image group from 1972. Colophon states "This text was set in Centaur & Cloister types and printed on Bergstrom papers at Hermes Free Press San Francisco Spring 1972." Although no author(s) are credited this book is an extremely rare collaboration between the American poets Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg. It's purpose was a poetic and political gesture that assigned a specific endangered plant, animal, or place (e.g., the Florida Manatee, the Grizzly Bear, the Grand Canyon, the Great Family of Whales, the Bald Eagle, etc.) as a "totem protector" to each of the 100 sitting U.S. Senators. Copies of the book were actually mailed to all 100 senators in a printed manila envelope (missing from this copy), intended as an "anti-ecocide mailshot" to raise ecological awareness. While it had no legal standing, the work is considered a "high water mark" in books relating to environmental activism and a significant piece of counterculture literature, reflecting the authors' deep environmental concerns. A quite rare item and a stopper for Gary Snyder or Allen Ginsberg completists with only a small handful of copies located in institutional libraries. See all photos. Size: Folio - over 12" - 15" tall.

Condition: Very Good. San Francisco, CA: Hermes Free Press, 1972. First Edition. Slim folio (37cm); publisher's grey stitched wrappers printed in brown, yapp edges; [12]pp. Minor edge wear to wrapper margins, textblock very lightly cockled from exposure to damp, else Very Good and sound. The title page continues, "Being the Assignment of Same to the Honorable Senators, Lawmakers of the United States Government, toward the Preservation of Life and Spirit of these Lands. This Investiture Proclaimed in Grace Cathedral at the Autumnal Equinox, 1971." The work assigned specific endangered plants and animals to each U.S. Senator. Originally housed in printed manila envelope (lacking from this copy). One copy was mailed to each U.S. Senator. Interestingly, the Morgan bibliography of Ginsberg and the McNeil bibliography of Snyder only make reference to the appearance of this work in different serials but not this separate edition. OCLC locates four copies as of September, 2025, at Cal Tech, Utah State, Monash, and UCSD.

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Being the Assignment of Same to the Honorable Senators, Lawmakers of the United States Government, toward the Preservation of Life and Spirit in these Lands. This Investiture Proclaimed in Grace Cathedral at the Autumnal Equinox, 1971. First separate edition. Small folio, unpaginated; blank, title leaf, [6pp.], colophon leaf, sewn into the original stiff Tweedweave brown paper wrapper, foreedge of upper portion untrimmed with titles in a darker brown, printed on Bergstrom. San Francisco, Hermes Free Press [Zephyrus Image], Spring 1972. Near fine book, a few faint fingermarks on the wrapper, lacks the printed manila envelope. Very rare in commerce and scarce institutionally with four copies only on Worldcat and all but one in the USA. Another is deposited in Creeley's papers at Stanford. In Johnston p-175 (illustrated on p-174); the first item discussed in the bibliography. No copies in Morgan C678 & 679 for a later reprint of the 'poem' & also Sherlock D-287, 320 & 321, McNeill C406, 437 for ? 'Totem Protectors' and the incomplete 'The Totem Protectorates'. Provenance: old Maggs pencil stock code in back from sale to LSD Library. Santo Domingo's collection also contained a copy of a six sheet, possibly abandoned, deluxe issue on fine paper printed on rectos only, also sold to him by Maggs and now possibly in the Houghton Library. This is an early publication from the so called 'labor donation' arm of the Zephyrus Image and the first significant book produced by them. A high water mark in books relating to environmental activism. written in the form of a list of U.S. Senators who were '.assigned specific endangered plants and animals.' (op cit). With, for example, the then 'Junior Senator from Florida, the Honourable Lawton Chiles, [as] totem protector for the FLORIDA MANATEE'. A copy of the book was mailed to each of a 100 senators, this un-mailed copy was bought from Teter's archive via Serendipity Books (though there were other copies in envelopes if memory serves me well). 134681.