YUN-MENG: The King & YUN-MENG: The Goddess; [A set of 2 illustrated broadside poetry prints]

Oneonta, NY: Swamp Press, 1980. First edition and only edition. "At Kao-t'ang Pavilion in Yun-meng Marsh, the King of Hsiang was visited by the Goddess of Wu Mountain, who shared with him pillow and mat. Yun-meng means, literally, Cloud Dream." - from the colophon. Printed by Edward Rayher and Jo Mish at the Swamp Press in an edition of 90 sets. Off-white handmade paper printed in black and with colophon in blue; approximately 18 x 17"; all edges untrimmed. TOGETHER WITH PRINTOUTS OF EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE AUTHOR from 2008: she explains her "husband was teaching at Union College in Schenectady decades ago" when she was invited by the press to submit her poems (her husband adds, with a laugh, assurances that "the broadsides are at least very rare") and comments that "it's amazing how sometimes these physical objects endure ... and turn up in new places" adding "actually, reading the poems again, I rather like them." Tartar also says she was published occasionally in the seventies before she became discouraged by the process. Helen Tartar (1951-2014) was a long-time editor at Stanford University Press and most recently Executive Editor at Fordham University Press where she championed the writing and publication of others. She earned Masters of Arts degrees in both English and East Asian Studies from Yale University and was the author of the posthumously published poetry collection, SHADOW SHARP MARSH GRASS. Poems, 1975-1995 (Counterpath Press, 2015). Fine.