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190 x 120 mm. (7 1/2 x 4 3/4"). 2 p.l., 288 pp. Original brown printed paper wrapper, edges UNTRIMMED AND all but the first half dozen leaves UNOPENED. In a substantial remnant of the original pink tissue dust jacket. Housed in an excellent red cloth clamshell box. With the printed broadside, "From an h'English Printer to an English Publisher," distributed with book (but often lacking) lain in at front. Robert McAlmon, "Being Genuises Together, 1920-1930," p. 30. One very small spot of foxing to front cover, a couple of short tears, but A VERY FINE, UNREAD COPY. This is an exceptionally well-preserved copy of the important writing and publishing work of Robert Menzies McAlmon (1895-1956), a major player in the 1920s expatriate avant-garde scene. In 1920, he jointly founded the short-lived "Contact Magazine" with William Carlos Williams. Two years later, having relocated to Paris, he established Contact Editions to publish the works of his fellow writers outside the literary mainstream, including Ernest Hemingway (whose first book was issued by Contact Editions), James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein, among others. McAlmon's connection to Joyce was particularly strong: he helped Joyce type and edit the manuscript for "Ulysses," which was put to press by Dijon printer Maurice Darantière shortly after Darantière had printed the present work. "A Hasty Bunch," McAlmon's own prose, was the first release under the new imprint. It owes its title to Joyce, who had suggested it because, McAlmon wrote in his memoir that Joyce "found [the] use of American language racy." The subversiveness of the press' endeavor is emphasized in the satirical broadsheet that precedes the book, in which "an h'English Printer" writes to the publisher, refusing to print a book: "We have been established over 60 years and do not remember ever being asked to place such literature before our workspeople before, and you can rest assured that we are not going to begin now." Our copy, which retains that often-lacking broadsheet along with most of the original tissue jacket, looks much as it did when originally purchased in 1922. FIRST EDITION. One of approximately 300 copies.
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