A RANGE OF POEMS: Collected Poems.

First edition, first printing. Originial brown cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the 'brown-paper' dustwrapper, lettered in black to spine and front panel. Erratum slip tipped in to the rear, as called for. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. A few faint spots to the upper edge of the page block and a couple of tiny ink marks to the lower edge. In the clean, well preserved wrapper, a touch rubbed to spine folds and tips, the tips with a few nicks and creases. Altogether, a very presentable copy.

'A Range of Poems', the first comprehensive collection of Gary Snyder's poetry, contained all the poems he wished to preserve in book form at the time. It includes his three early books 'Riprap', 'Cold Mountain', and 'Myths and Texts', along with the first appearance of 'The Back Country' and 'Miyawaza Kenji'. It was during this period that Snyder was most closely associated with Kenneth Rexroth, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac, the latter basing the character of Japhy Ryder in 'The Dharma Bums' on the poet. Snyder won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1975, the American Book Award in 1984, and the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1997. "I reread Gary Snyder's poems with wonder at their daring and with admiration for their solidity. There can be few poets alive who know as much about verse-rhythms as he does, and even fewer who can with such firmness and delicacy preserve through them experience in the process of formation." (Thom Gunn).