Night Sweats
Florence, Kentucky: Robert L. Barth, 1987. First Edition, First Printing.
SIGNED and numbered by Thom Gunn (1929-2004) on the colophon, one of 200 copies. This chapbook features the first appearance of Gunn's most famous poem, "The Man With Night Sweats," about a man suffering from AIDS.
Gunn lost four friends to AIDS in a five-week period in 1987, the year this chapbook was issued. The poem has been reprinted in numerous other collections.
Other poems here include: Terminal, Still Life, To Isherwood Dying, JVC, Ace, Hatchet, the Reviewer, Jamesian, Barren Leaves, Looks, The Stealer, Nasturtium, and Patch Work. Hagstrom and Odell A39 (Jack W.C. Hagstrom and Joshua S. Odell, Thom Gunn: A Bibliography, Volume II, 1979-2012).
Robert L. Barth (1933-2019) of Florence, Kentucky, published this chapbook in 1987. Barth, who was also a poet, published more than 200 books of poetry from various authors, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s.
This chapbook is scarce in commerce.
PHYSICAL DETAILS: 12mo (7 x 4.25 inches; 178 x 117 mm), [12] pages, in stapled, printed wrappers (soft cover).
CONDITION: Some rusting to staples, light soiling to wrappers, but otherwise clean and unmarked. Near Fine. Item #3037
Price: $250.00