For sale

3703 students: Curiosity at 11:00 p.m. sent me to Advanced Book Exchange, a great used-book site, to see how our recent poets are doing. ABE lists books by price, so my curiosity took me to the last page for each poet.

Charles Reznikoff, In Memoriam: 1933. From the bookseller's description:

NY Objectivist Press (1934). A poem in seven parts. Inscribed by the author in 1975. Most pages uncut. Very near fine in like dust jacket. A very attractive copy.

Price: $450.00

Louis Zukofsky, An Objectivists Anthology, edited by LZ. From the bookseller's description:

First edition of this rare landmark anthology which prints the work of Pound, Williams, T. S. Eliot, Bunting, Rexroth, Reznikoff, Oppen, Rakosi, McAlmon, Zukofsky, among others. . . . Presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "a Fernand Leger cordialement Louis Zukofsky, 3 Sept. 1933, Paris". With two corrections by Zukofsky on pp. 25 & 153. . . . The number of copies printed is unknown, but it was probably no more than 300. . . . Wrappers lightly rubbed and soiled, but a very good, unopened copy of this rare anthology.

Price: $4,500.00

Lorine Niedecker, My Friend Tree. From the bookseller's description:

Edinburgh Wild Hawthorn Press 1961. First edition of Niedecker's second book, published by the press of the Scottish concrete poet & gardener extraordinary Ian Hamilton Finlay, with the introduction by [poet Edward] Dorn on a separate sheet laid into the book. Inscribed on the inside front wrapper to her later publisher, Jonathan Williams: "Jonathan: My best book so far (Sept. 3, '69). So good of you to keep it on hand. Best wishes, Lorine". In 1968, Williams' Jargon Society published Niedecker's Tenderness & Gristle: The Collected Poems (1936-1966) & in 1985, the most comprehensive edition of her poetry, From This Condensery: The Complete Writings of Lorine Niedecker. In his introduction to My Friend Tree, Dorn deftly sums up Niedecker's achievement: "I like these poems because first they attach an undistractable clarity to the word, and then because they are unabashed enough to weld that word to a freely sought, beautifully random instance--that instance being the only thing place and its content can be: the catch in the seine". Inscribed books by the sybilline poet from Black Hawk Island on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin, are extremely rare.

Price: $6,500.

And from Hart Crane, The Bridge. From the bookseller's description:

Paris The Black Sun Press 1930. First edition. One of 50 copies on Japanese Vellum, signed by Crane. Quarto, original white printed wrappers, with original glassine cover and gilt paper covered slipcase (cover and case lightly worn). A beautiful copy of one of the rarest and most important books of twentieth century poetry.

Price: $28,500.00

ABE also lists many paperbacks by these poets that cost just a few dollars ($3, $4, $5).