A Donation of 1960s Poetry Magazine With Hidden Gems

The Text Art Archive and I were very excited to receive a generous donation of a 1960s poetry magazine from a fan of the Text Festival. The donor was at Winchester School of Art with Brian Eno in the 60s where Eno went after his time at Ipswich College of Art.

The Ipswich College publication is very striking with a red cover with bold silver design (for which Eno is credited).The poems in the magazine are  experimental in the 1960s spirit of the avant-garde.

Inside the magazine were some extra text art pieces including two fabulous large poster works by Richard Pinkney and some smaller uncredited pamphlet poems.

Loose inside the cover we were stunned to find an incredible type-written poem by Dom Sylvester Houédard. The poem is a long  multiple page piece with handwritten alterations, called The Primamadonna and Child, and has a stunning concrete poem on the last page.

It’s a magnificent donation of stunning items, and hopefully will inspire more collectors to donate material to the archive where they can be conserved and made accessible to interested researchers. We would be very interested in any DSH scholars who would be willing to offer information about the work.

Anyone interested in the Richard Pinkney poster poems can see them in the upcoming exhibition at Birkbeck’s Petlz Room, Gordon Square from the 21st June to July 10th.