BRAINARD, Joe. Holograph Letter Signed, to Ted Berrigan, with collages, 15 loose pages, [Boston: nd, but ca. 1963-1965]. A fascinating letter - indeed, a hand-made book - in which so many of Brainard's beautiful qualities are displayed. Brainard observes of Berrigan's poems: "It's funny but, reading your poems, it is very easy to except the fact that you wrote them... There are certain lines in your poems, that knowing You wrote them, I don't, or can't, like... And the exact opposite is true just as often: that I extra like a line Because I know you wrote it. And some lines are so far away that I don't think I realize if you wrote them or not". Brainard comments further on Berrigan's writing: "Another thing that you might want to know is that when you use words like Fuck they somehow don't seem right to me. For me they fall flat. Henry Miller uses Fuck always in a good way". Brainard writes at length about his sculpture, particularly Grand No. 4 and Grand No. 5. With regard to Berrigan in his capacity as editor of 'C' Comics, Brainard writes: "At any rate, that Ashbery sent 3 poems is great... In your next letter please send the addresses of Warhol and O'Hara". Brainard concludes, "I hope Pat & Ron [Padgett] get a car somehow and bring Grands to N.Y. There is no more room in my closet even if that was where they should be. It seems they ought to be in N.Y. ". Small 8vo, on rectos only, on Magna Film Productions stationery, bearing Brainard's collage of comic strip, newsprint and magazine cutouts, and stamps in varying combinations on every sheet, laid into Brainard's illustrated card folder. Occasional offset from onlays to facing pages, otherwise fine. An extraordinary document and work of art.
$12,500.00