Sleepers Awake.
(New York: Padell, 1946). First edition, Limited Edition issue, with a special colophon tipped to the front free endpaper that reads: “This is one of seventy-five copies of a Limited Edition of SLEEPERS AWAKE which has an original decoration by the author on the cover. These books are bound in white buckram, whereas the seventy-five copies which do not have decorations are bound in red buckram. No two of these cover-paintings are alike. This is Copy No. 8.” This colophon is signed by Patchen. The second colophon, printed on a piece of black paper tipped to the rear endpaper, calls this the “black paper edition”, and notes that it is limited to 148 numbered and signed copies. It is signed by Patchen, and numbered [8] in white ink. Morgan A11. In a letter to Jasper Wood, Patchen wrote that the entire limited edition of painted copies of Sleepers Awake “was ruined at the last minute by the bindery and I’ve been pretty knocked-down by it. – Smith, p. 197. However, some copies of the painted issue of Sleepers Awake survived, as evidenced by the eight copies included in the exhibition Kenneth Patchen: Painter of Poems. December 12, 1969 – January 18, 1970 (Washington, D. C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1969). However, it is very rare in commerce . The white buckram is somewhat sunned along spine, otherwise a near fine copy. 8vo, original white cloth with original painting pasted to the front cover as issued.
Price: $4,500.00