ON DECOLLE? / WANNA GO OUT

(n.p.): Editions Anna Polèrica, 1999. Very good plus.. First French edition of Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine's early pseudonymous poetic collaboration, alternating the original English text with Bulteau's translation. This collection of 17 poems by the pair then known as Richard Meyers and Tom Miller was first published in 1973 and predates their work with Television. WANNA GO OUT was Hell's first book of verse (and second book overall). As the half-title to the first edition explains: "'Wanna Go Out' is a question often asked on the streets around the cheaper bars in New York and Hoboken." Stern was the pair's creation, purported to be a young prostitute and given a fictionalized biography and an author photograph made from a composite image of Verlaine and Hell's faces. The book would be an important event for Meyers, marking an early experiment in the use of stage personae that would shortly culminate in "Richard Hell." A scarce edition of an important document of punk history. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original pictorial cream wrappers with French flaps. Edition of 1000 copies; this copy no. 0556. 59, [3] pages. Minor edgewear and light soil, faint toning to spine. Interiors bright and clean. (Inventory #: 54059)