No place: no publisher, 1961. Pamphlet. First edition. Cover illustration of an abstract beatnik face. Entirely devoted to printing a long unattributed song that includes a bit of beatnik slang and a few beatnik references. Illustrated with small drawings that embellish the text. Near fine... More
Detroit: Student Lane, no date [ca. 1940's]. The writing pad measures ca. 4" x 2.5" and has "Student Lane The New Style Center for Young Men Bond Clothes" printed on the cover. A very scarce jive slang item from the swing period, and an unexpected place to find such a...... More
Toledo, OH: Leister Game Co., 1959. Cardboard box printed with charming drawings of bearded, beret-wearing beatniks spouting beatnik phrases. The box contains 24 pieces of illustrated stationery in different shapes, 6 each in square, circle, trapezoid and rectangular format, plus 12 envelopes with a Beat jazz combo in the corner..... More
No place: Privately published by the author, 1939. Small pamphlet (measuring ca. 4.25" x 2.75"). Second edition of this legendary title, the "revised 1939 edition," published a year after the first (the book went through six printings until 1944). Regarded as the first dictionary by an African-American, and the first..... More
No place: Cab Calloway, 1944. Small pamphlet (measuring 4.5" x 2.75"). The sixth, and final, and most definitive, edition of this title originally published in 1938. Issued as a promotional item for the movie Sensations of 1945, in which Cab and his band appeared (an ad for the film appears..... More
No place: Cab Calloway Inc., 1939. Small pamphlet (measuring ca. 4.5" x 2.75"). First (and only) edition. Illustrated with charming small drawings. Calloway wrote this as a sequel to his classic "The New Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue: A Hepster's Dictionary" published to great acclaim a year earlier. The purpose of this..... More
[Dallas: Documentary Arts, 1989]. Pamphlet. Second edition of this title originally published in 1953. A collection of "Jive Talk" terms including how they can be utilized in sentences. Durst was one of the first Black DJ's in Texas and he hosted a popular program on KVET specializing in blues, jazz..... More
[SF: X-Ray Book & Novelty Co., 2010]. Oblong 32mo. Pamphlet. First edition. Designed and hand-printed letterpress by Johnny Brewton under the pseudonym "Skillet Marimba." Prints Gonzales' Christmas story originally recorded in 1954, along with a glossary of slang terms from Bab's be-bop dictionary. Limited to 100 copies given to friends..... More
n.p.: Privately published, 1978. Pamphet. First edition. This copy from the archive of Reinhold Aman, editor of Maledicta, and scholar on sex and hate speech. Some material from Aman laid in. Brown stain to corner of back cover that bleeds through to the last page, else fine. Scarce in the..... More
Memphis: Kimbrough Publishing 1959. 32mo. Pamphlet. First edition. The first full-length beatnik dictionary solely devoted to beatnik, drug, and hipster lingo. Within a year of publication this book was pirated twice, first as "Beatnik Dictionary," and then a revised and expanded edition was issued under the title "Beat Talk." Illustrated..... More
NY: Simon and Schuster, [1971]. First paperback edition. The "most up-to-date, comprehensive guide available to the language of a whole new American subculture." Landy was a clinical psychologist who controversially treated Beach Boy, Brian Wilson and started to inappropriately take control of Brian's music business affairs until he was ultimately..... More
Denver: Band Box Records, no date [ca. 1960]. 45rpm record in picture sleeve. Absolutely terrific, ridiculous, and really well executed use of full-on beatnik lingo to tell a couple of humorous tall tales---over jazz background by the Saints. Probably the best beatnik lingo spiel ever recorded. Near mint record in..... More
Universal City: Seven Seventy Publishers, 1966. Counterculture exploitation magazine with an emphasis on the Hell's Angels featuring a "Hell's Angels Special Inside Report" with photos and a glossary of Hell's Angels slang. Also includes articles such as "Escapism with So-called Wonder Drugs" (LSD), "Sunset Strip Gone Crazy," plus the requisite..... More
No place: Privately published, 1960. A single octavo sheet folded to make four pages. Advertises a screening of the 1960 film "The Beatniks" at the Echo Drive-In in New Iberia, Louisiana, a noted hotbed of beatnik activity. A terrific item---the front cover features a dynamic illustration of a shade-wearing, bearded..... More
NY: Robbins Music Corp., 1958. Single quarto sheet folded to make four pages, with another sheet laid in loose. Sheet music printing the music and lyrics for this beatnik love song recorded by Ann Henry that utilizes beatnik slang and even includes a reference to reading Kerouac. The cover features..... More
No place: no publisher, no date [ca. late '40s early 1950's]. 32mo. Pamphlet. First edition. Cover photograph of a scantily-clad woman with question marks on her bra promotes this book that will make you "Bust with Humor." A book devoted to humor based on sexual themes, including poems, quotations, and..... More
