So the Ed Sanders Archive, a massive hoard of literary and countercultural materials, is finally for sale. Steve Clay, the publisher of Granary Books, is the dealer. I have no idea what price is being asked, but you can bet it’s liable to set some kind of record.
Beginning with his first poems written while he still lived in Missouri (1955), it encompasses all of Sanders’ expansive life and career. The archive is a unique resource that allows for the exploration into Sanders’ seminal contributions to the Mimeo Revolution and American poetry, as well as his legacy in the American underground and counterculture with his political activism and his music. The archive itself has long been spoken of by scholars as well as fans.
Clay writes that Sanders — poet, writer, editor, publisher, activist, cofounder of the Fugs with Tuli Kupferberg — organized the archive over a 10-year period and produced “a 219-page finding aid/inventory/narrative document.”
The archive contains approximately 354 boxes (primarily “bankers boxes”), 54 spring binders (exceeding 8,300 pages), 39 3-ring binders, 27 archival boxes, 10 photo boxes, 23 boxes of audio and video tapes, 7 filing cabinets, approx. 60 books, 21 shelf-feet of alphabetical and chronological files, 1 mimeograph machine, 11 electronic musical instruments (The Electronic Bard System), the Peace Eye Bookstore sign, and assorted other items.
Oh, meanwhile, Sanders has a new book out, Sharon Tate: A Life.
