Book Synopsis
This little book is a newer version of what were once called chapbooks—periodicals containing poems, short fiction and the like. They were typically produced in small numbers using mimeograph machines or simple printers. In the 19th century such tracts were sold by peddlers known as chapmen, chap being an old English term for trade. The method was adopted by beat poets in the US and elsewhere as a cheap and easy means of publishing their work. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, co-founder of City Lights Books and Publishers in San Francisco, was the first to publish Alan Ginsberg’s famous poem Howl, perhaps the beat generation’s best known poem, the first version of which exists as a mimeograph.