The Ballad of the Sad Young Men: And other verse

London: Polytantric Press, 1975. Stiff card wrappers. Good+. FIRST UK EDITION, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. 8vo, pp. 59, [1]. Original fawn card wrappers, lettered in black, laminated. Well-handled: laminate lifting and a bit grubby at edges, creased, mark to front wrapper. Top edge foxed. Inscribed enthusiastically by Landesman to half title in black felt-tip: 'For Elizabeth, I loved "By Grand Central Station". Yours, Fran,' with Landesman's London address written in blue biro to verso of front cover, toned. Else, clean. Good+ A fabulous association copy, uniting two significant mid-century North American poets, who lived unconventional and creative lives. The "godmother of hip," Fran Landesman (1927�2011) was an American lyricist, poet and performer, who played a pivotal role in bringing Beat music � and the first and only Beat musical � to wider audiences; 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most' and 'Ballad of the Sad Young Men', became jazz standards, recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Roberta Flack and Shirley Bassey. The Canadian poet and author, Elizabeth Smart (1913-1986), whose best-known work was the extraordinary novel of poetic prose, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945), inspired by Smart's tumultuous romance with the poet George Barker. Fran's husband, Jay Landesman's Polytantric Press successfully re-issued By Grand Central Station in 1977; in the same year, the press also published Smart's new poetry collection, A Bonus, after a 32-year literary silence. PO note: "This copy was purchased from Elizabeth Smart's collection for poet Sebastian Barker".