AMBIT Magazine No. 28 (1966) - includes Poems written and illustrated by Stevie Smith

Martin Bax (Edited by), Stevie Smith, Gavin Ewart, Dannie Abse, John Pudney et al (Contributors)

Published by Ambit, 62 Hornsey Lane, London, N.6., 1966

About this Item

Ambit Number 28, published in 1966. Illustrated throughout in monochrome. Includes "A Dream", "How Cruel is the Story of Eve" and "The Ass" - poems written and illustrated by Stevie Smith, and a four-page spread of street photos by Andrew Lanyon. ***Near fine in glossy card stapled covers. The covers are just very slightly rubbed. No bumps or creases. No tears. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean. No marks. Spine tight. ***250mm x 185mm. 48 pages. ***Contents - work by: Martin Bax; Stevie Smith; Jack Marriott; Stuart Mills; John Parsons; Gavin Ewart; Christopher Ounsted; J. Bronowski; Andrew Lanyon; John Pudney; Michael Jamieson; Paul Wilks; Anthony Edkins; Jim Burns; Barry Cole; Dannie Abse. ***'In the sixties AMBIT became well known for testing the boundaries and social conventions and published many anti-establishment pieces, including an issue with works written under the influence of drugs. Edwin Brock was poetry editor, and J. G. Ballard became fiction editor alongside, later, Geoff Nicholson. Henry Graham and Carol Ann Duffy joined Edwin Brock as poetry editors. Michael Foreman was art editor for 50 years. Across the magazine's history, Derek Birdsall (Omnific), Alan Kitching, John Morgan Studio and Stephen Barrett were notable designers.' (Wiki) ***'AMBIT started in '59; there were various impulses behind it. I'd been interested in the writer John Middleton Murray, who was married to Katharine Mansfield. He had run a magazine from about 1910 onwards for two or three years called Rhythm that attracted writers like D.H. Lawrence, and Katharine Mansfield of course. What was striking about it - you could look at it in the V&A library - was that Murray, who really knew nothing about art, had met a Scottish artist called Ferguson who was sending over from Paris artwork by "young" artists like Picasso, Miro, etc. They looked quite startling in this 1910 magazine. And the idea, that Murray never developed, of trying to produce a magazine that had literary and visual material really working together, came to me out of that. But the other initiatives were more simple. There weren't many magazines about then because the possibility of what everybody can do now -- produce a magazine from a 'desktop' in quite small numbers and for not very much money -- didn't exist. But electronic things were just starting to happen, and the first number of Ambit we partly set ourselves on a machine called a variotyper. It enabled us to paste down visual work of which we had some good drawings from an Australian artist, Oliffe Richmond, in this first number and enabled us to begin the notion of producing an arts magazine rather than the traditional poetry or Eng. Lit. magazine. I'd say there's still no magazine in the country that combines high class artwork, produced and found by Mike Foreman over the years, alongside writers who I think are exciting.' (Martin Bax interview with 3:AM magazine) ***A collectable 1960s edition of the magazine in near fine condition - this issue of particular interest for collectors of the poetry and illustrations of Stevie Smith, who features, and for collectors of AMBIT and poetry magazines in general. An uncommon issue of the magazine. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

Seller Inventory # PB471

Bibliographic Details

• Title: AMBIT Magazine No. 28 (1966) - includes Poems written and illustrated by Stevie Smith
• Publisher: Ambit, 62 Hornsey Lane, London, N.6.
• Publication Date: 1966
• Language: English
• Binding: Original Wraps
• Illustrator: Andrew Lanyon, John Parsons, Stevie Smith et al
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: First Impression
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket, as Issued
• Seller catalogs:
  • Periodicals & Pamphlets
  • Literature
  • Illustrated