AMBIT Magazine No. 91 (1982 - Caribbean Special issue)

Martin Bax (Edited by), Linton Kwesi Johnson, Grace Nichols, E. A. Markham, John Agard, Andrew Salkey, James Berry, Caryl Phillips et al (Contributors)

Published by Ambit, 17 Priory Gardens, Highgate, London N6 5QY, 1982

About this Item

Ambit Number 91, published in 1982. Caribbean Special issue. Illustrated throughout in monochrome. Cover design by Alan Kitching. ***Near fine in textured card monochrome-illustrated outer wrapper over thin white card covers. The edges of the outer wrapper are just slightly rubbed. Top corner tips of the page block just very slightly creased, otherwise no bumps or creases. No tears. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean. Paper stock just slightly tanned. Spine tight. ***245mm x 180mm. 96 pages. ***Contents - work by: Linton Kwesi Johnson; Sam Selvon; Edward Kamau Brathwaite; Ray Povey; Grace Nichols; Lynda Nkem Chinaka; Amryl Johnson; E. A. Markham; Elyse Dodgson and Company; S. E. Ashman; A. L. Hendriks; Michael Foreman; John Agard; Edgar White; Les Johnson; Andrew Salkey; Peter Fraser; James Berry; Errol Lloyd; Howard Fergus; Lynford French; Caryl Phillips; John La Rose; Charles Shearer; John Figueroa; David Nathaniel Haynes. ***'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) ***An early 80s edition of the magazine in very nice, collectable condition - this being a special Caribbean issue. Of interest to 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 # PB473

Bibliographic Details

Title: AMBIT Magazine No. 91 (1982 - Caribbean ...

Publisher: Ambit, 17 Priory Gardens, Highgate, London N6 5QY

Publication Date: 1982

Binding: Original Wraps

Illustrator: Michael Foreman, Errol Lloyd, Ray Povey et al

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Edition: First Edition