Douglas Casement, ed., William Wantling, contributor.

The Spero, vol. 1, no. 2 [with] Heroin Haikus [John Sinclair, da levy]

[Chicago]: Fenian Head Centre Press, 1966. First edition. One of 900 hand-numbered copies, this being copy 23. 90pp. 5 ¼ x 8 in. Saddle stapled in illustrated wraps with a small illustrated chapbook of haikus housed in a pocket stapled to the rear wrapper. Very good. Minor wear and toning to edges of wraps; three illustrated plates previously glued in have become loose, but are tipped in. Item #6058

The “drug issue” of Casement’s literary journal featuring writing by John Sinclair, da levy, Al Young, Ray and Bonnie Bremser, and many others, with the exceedingly rare William Wantling chapbook, Heroin Haikus, in back pouch.

Wantling’s chapbook collects haikus in a strung-out narrative of scoring, getting busted, and detoxing in jail, illustrated with delightful drawings by Ben Tibbs. The poems in Spero are illustrated with silkscreens and woodblock prints by John Randle, pasted onto versos of sheets. Also interspersed amongst the poetry are photographs by Magdelene Sinclair and drawings by other artists. A scarce document of the drug-addled Midwestern Beat poetry and art scene.

Price: $1,200.00