Le Sony’R Ra / Sun Ra

The Immeasurable Equation Vol. I [and] Extentions Out: The Immeasurable Equation Vol. II

Item #6881

The Immeasurable Equation Vol. I
Philadelphia: El Saturn Records, 1985. Offset. Saddle stapled. 5 ½ x 8 ½ in. Slight bumping to top right corner of wrapper; else near fine.

Extentions Out: The Immeasurable Equation Vol. II
Chicago: Infinity Inc. / Saturn Research, 1972. Offset from typescript on rectos only. 134 pp. 8 ½ x 11 in. Side stapled binding detached and slight creasing to cover; else near fine.

An exceedingly scarce gathering of the two volumes of The Immeasurable Equation. While Ra’s poetry remains a more obscure front of his oeuvre, it was an essential site of experimentation and elaboration for his creative output, serving as a credo for his visionary creativity and style which would come to be known as Afrofuturism. Represented in these two volumes are 132 poems, constituting a significant portion of Sun Ra’s published literary works.

Volume I is Sun Ra’s most widely seen and distributed literary work; members of the Arkestra often sold copies at performances in several different editions over the years. Present in this gathering is an edition published in 1985 that includes 28 poems and photography by Donna Paul and Allan Tannenbaum; it is also one of the more illustrated examples we have seen.

Published in 1972, the same year as the first edition of Vol. I, Extentions Out: The Immeasurable Equation Vol. II saw far less distribution and as a result is extremely rare. It contains 104 poems.

“All equations together are two immeasurable equations because of the immeasurable presence of the non-being in duality of the balanced oneness of the two.

Price: $3,500.00