Three Poetry Books
Three poetry chapbooks by John (Jack) Mueller (d. 2017), one of the founders of the Union of Street Poets in San Francisco. All three chapbooks are inscribed.
--What Can I Say. Berkeley: Artaud's Elbow, 1981. Small Octavo, unpaginated, in stapled wrappers. Inscribed to Nathan May, the editor and publisher of Beatitude #32, the San Francisco magazine of Beat poetry. Cover woodblock of Mueller by Kristen Wetterhahn (also one of the founders of the Union of Street Poets). Light edge wear. Near Fine.
--Venus. San Francisco: Greenlight Press, 1981. Octavo, unpaginated, in stitched wrappers. On of 250 copies, with a poem by Mueller and photographs by Judith Faust. Inscribed to Nathan May. Lower wrapper with deckled fore edge, Faust's photographs pasted to upper wrapper and to internal page. Slight soiling and edge wear to wrappers, but a striking production from Greenlight Press. Near Fine.
--Prussian Blue. Alexandria, Virginia: Deep Forest, 1984. Octavo, unpaginated, in stapled wrappers. One of 100 copies. Inscribed to "Rainer." Heavy foxing and soiling to wrappers. About Good.
Jack Mueller published six collections of poems and two books of sketches, according to an obituary on SFgate.com, which quoted Lawrence Ferlinghetti as saying: "Jack Mueller is the biggest-hearted poet I have ever known."
Signed copies of Mueller's chapbooks, especially "Venus," are scarce to the market.
. Item #2326
Price: $60.00