The Collected Poems. Edited by Donald Allen. With an Introduction by John Ashbery.

O'HARA, Frank.

Published by New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971

First edition, inscribed by John Ashbery, who wrote the introduction, on the rear free endpaper: "For Philip Charron, in memory of our friend Frank. John Ashbery, 4/30/84, Deerfield". Below, Charron has annotated that Ashbery was accepting an award in Deerfield. Charron's ownership inscription, occasional ink markings, and taped-in newspaper clippings about O'Hara are also present. Loosely inserted is a typed letter from the publisher to Charron, requesting to reprint his account of O'Hara at his father's funeral for inclusion in City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara (1993; see page 105). Charron has marked up O'Hara's poem "To My Dead Father" in this copy. Charron and O'Hara were childhood friends whose families rented holiday homes nearby during the summers of the early 1940s. O'Hara frankly discussed music, literature, and sexuality with Charron, while staying "simultaneously gregarious and private" about his homosexuality (Gooch, p. 114). The poet occasionally checked his friend's pessimism, insisting to Charron that "everybody's a genius in some way" and pacifying Charron's fear of mortality by stating, "I'll die and they'll stick me in St Philip's Cemetery and that'll be the end of that" (Gooch, p. 44). This posthumous collection was published following O'Hara's untimely death in 1966. Critics of the National Book Award winner of 1972 complained it was too monumental for "a poet as delicate, charming, and evanescent as O'Hara" (Perloff, p. 6), who "sought to capture in his poetry the immediacy of life, feeling that poetry should be 'between two persons instead of two pages'. He was inspired and energized by New York City as other poets have been inspired and energized by nature" (ANB). The dust jacket is the first issue, featuring Larry Rivers's nude design of the author and dated 10/71, swiftly replaced with a green typographical design dated 11/71. Holland Cotter, "Refurbished Reputation for a Nervy Painter", New York Times, 6 Sept. 2009; Marjorie Perloff, Frank O'Hara: Poet Among Painters, 1998. Large octavo. Half-tone photographic portrait of the author as frontispiece. Original cream cloth, spine lettered in brown, author's name in brown on rear cover, extending onto front cover, buff endpapers, pastedowns printed in brown with text of "Poem (Now the violets are all gone)", top edge green. Faint foxing to edges; jacket a little faded, a few short closed tears, unclipped: a very good copy in like jacket. Seller Inventory # 192202

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Collected Poems. Edited by Donald Allen....
Publisher: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: 1st Edition