ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH OF LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI IN FRONT OF HIS BANNED BOOKS DISPLAY AT CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence (subject); Redl, Harry (photographer)

Published by Harry Redl, San Francisco, 1959

About this Item

Original double-weight black & white photograph, measuring 40.5cm x 50.5cm (16" x 20"). Captioned by the photographer on verso (in pencil): "Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet / Owner of City Lights Bookstore / Columbus & B'Way / San Francisco, CA. 1959 / By Harry Redl," and additionally signed by Redl directly beneath. Trivial wear to corners, else Fine.An iconic image captured by Vancouver photographer Harry Redl, two years after the historic Howl obscenity trial, in which Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Shigeyoshi Murao were defendants. Redl spent a few years in San Francisco, where he took many now-legendary photographs of the Beats and counterculture scene before he shipped off to Vietnam in 1961. Here, a young Ferlinghetti stands in front of his "Banned Books" display at City Lights. The sign behind him reads: "Banned Books All books in this window have been censored or suppressed at some time in the past." Covers for Howl are prominently displayed, alongside copies of From Here to Eternity, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Sanctuary, Madame Bovary, The Wisdom of Confucius, Tobacco Road, The Wayward Bus, Dante's Inferno, Women in Love, Leaves of Grass, The Naked and the Dead, A Farewell to Arms, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Odyssey, The New Testament, and Ulysses, among many others. A bold display by a bold bookseller, one of our country's great voices against censorship. 7885.

Seller Inventory # 7885

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH OF LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI IN FRONT OF HIS BANNED BOOKS DISPLAY AT CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE
• Publisher: Harry Redl, San Francisco
• Publication Date: 1959
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature
  • Art & Photography