MERLIN
The first issue of Merlin—initially subtitled A collection of Contemporary Writings was published in the Spring of 1952. It was edited by Alexander Trocchi, and published by his American girl friend Alice Jane Lougee. Five further issues under this editor/publisher combination would follow. The seventh and final issue was published by the Olympia Press, described in detail below.
2.7.1 MERLIN No. 7 [Vol.2, number 4, Spring/Summer 1955]
[On the left, at head of page in l.c. and large type:] merlin | [at left, below title and in small type:] revue trimestrielle | founded by Alice Jane Lougee | EDITORS [on the right, one name below the other:] Alexander Trocchi | Austryn Wainhouse | [on the left:] COMMITTEE [on the right, one name below the other:] PatrickBowles | W. Baird Bryant | Corneille | Robert Creeley | Ben Johnson | Richard Seaver | Shinkichi Tajiri | [on the left:] EDITORIAL ADDRESS [on the right:] The English Bookshop | 42, Rue de Seine, Paris-6e | [on the left:] PUBLISHER [on the right:] The Olympia Press | 8, Rue de Nesle, Paris-6e | [in centre of page:] contents | [in two columns, each line separated after the page number by a continuous vertical rule:] Michel de M‘Uzan 233 THREE TALES | Pablo Neruda 242 TWENTY LOVE POEMS | Austryn Wainhouse 259 SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN | ENGINEERING AND REFLEXIONS UPON | AN EROTIC BOOK | Jaap Mooy [no page numbers] FOUR ILLUMINATIONS | Cleveland Moffett 274 PHEIDIPPIDES | Alain Clément 281 FRANCE AS SEEN BY THE GERMANS | Lennart Olson [no page numbers] FOUR PHOTOGRAPHS | Alister Kershaw 298 ALDINGTON’S CRITICS | Christopher Logue 301 GRAHAM’S NIGHTFISHING | Richard Gibson 303 CURZIO MALAPARTE : | THE VISION OF DEFEAT | [below Contents, and centered on columns above:] line drawings by WILLIAM PARKER| spring 1955 summer | [at foot of page, left:] MERLIN IS PRINTED IN FRANCE [at foot of page, right:] vol. 2 no. [in large type] 4
Collation: 80 pp. No signatures, but [1-5]8, with the numeration of the pages following on from previous issues of the periodical. Two double leaves on coated photographic paper (comprising photographs by Jaap Mooy and Lennart Olson) are inserted between pp. 260,261 & 276,277 and between pp. 292,293 & following p. 308. 24 x 15.4 cm., all edges trimmed. Printed on white wove paper.
Contents: p. [229], untitled note signed The Editors. p. [230], two half-page advertisements, the upper for two novels published by Plon and the lower for the Paris Review. p. [231], title, as above. p. [232], three advertisements, one across the top of the page for James Broughton’s An Almanac for Amorists, and the other two, side-by-side below, for, on the right, Sartre’s revue mensuelle Les Temps modernes and, on the left, for The English Bookshop. pp. 233-241,
Three Tales by Michel de M’Uzan, translated by Philip Oxman. pp. 242-258, Twenty Love Poems by Pablo Neruda, translated by Patrick Bowles and Christopher Logue. pp. 259-273, Some Basic Principles Of Human Engineering And Reflexions Upon An Erotic Book by Austryn Wainhouse. pp. 274-280, Pheidippides by Cleveland Moffett. pp. 281-298, France as Seen by the Germans by Alain Clément. Clément’s piece is referred to at the head of p. 281 as Chronicles. pp. 298-308 are printed in two columns and a smaller typeface, and comprise three pieces described as Notes: Aldington‘s Critics by Alister Kershaw (pp. 298-301). Graham‘s Nightfishing by Christopher Logue (pp. 301-303). Curzio Malaparte: The Vision of Defeat by Richard Gibson (pp. 303-308). Drawings by William Parker appear on pp. 234, 243, 249, 258, 273, 274, & 280. Advertisements appear on pp. 299 (Les Editions de Minuit), 301 (Obelisk Press), 303 (Hedyphagetica, by Austryn Wainhouse), 304
(Christopher Logues The Weekdream Sonnets, published by Jack Straw), 30(Collection Merlin/Olympia Press, and Samuel Beckett’s Molloy specifically) and 308 (Merlin).
Binding: Printed card wrappers, with orange front and spine, spilling over to a 1-inch band on back. Remainder of back wrapper is white. Front cover: [centred at head in white l.c. large type:] merlin | [centred below title in smaller l.c. type:] the paris quarterly | [at foot, slightly to the left, and in orange within a thin white panel:] 75 c [space] 3/- [space] 250fr. [At foot and to the right, in orange within a larger and oblong white panel:] no [large] 4 | [small] vol 2.
Spine: [at top of spine, reading down in widely-spaced white l.c.:] merlin. [At foot of spine, reading down in orange type within white panel:] 4/2. Back cover: [at foot and to the right of white section:] SOCIETE D’IMPRESSIONS PUBLICITAIRES | 75, Rue Alexis Pesnon MONTREUIL | Tel. : AVR. 12-53.
The inside front wrapper carries an advertisement for Merlin comprising lists of contributions promised for later issues and available back issues. The inside back wrapper carries two half-page advertisements, the uppermost for The Western Review, a literary quarterly published by the University of Iowa, and the lower for Lascaux, ou la Naissance de l‘art, an art book with text by Georges Bataille published by Albert Skira.
For detail of all seven volumes see
New into the Collection: MERLIN No. 7 [Vol.2, number 4, Spring/Summer 1955]
Any Questions please leave a comment.
MERLIN the Paris quarterly, No. 7 [Vol.2, number 4, Spring/Summer 1955]
See full description above. Rare item and the only issue actually published by Olympia Press. Overall condition very good. Price includes postage worldwide.
