PANELS FOR THE WALLS OF HEAVEN by PATCHEN, Kenneth - 1946

Bern Porter, 1946. Hardcover. Very Good. Square 8vo in this cardboard covers, title in red and black, title page in red and black, 67pp including illustrations. Corners lightly rubbed, dampstain at the lower left corner of the front board, p.o. inscription on the ffep, text block fresh and unmarked.

Berkeley, CA: Bern Porter. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1946. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 8vo; 67 pages; Scarce jacket is split at the rear spine, but enclosed in a jacket protector. Otherwise very minor chipping and wear. .

[Berkeley]: Bern Porter, , 1946.. First edition, painted issue.. 67 pp. Hard bump to lower outside corner, else near fine in boards. No dust jacket, as issued. One of 150 numbered copies SIGNED by Patchen with a painted cover and his holograph colophon on the rear cover, “this Edition / is Limited to 150 / Numbered & Signed Copies / with Covers Decorated / by the Author / eighteen / Kenneth Patchen / no two Covers Alike.” Morgan A12b.

(Berkeley, CA): Bern Porter, 1946. First Edition. Hardcover. Some soiling to endpapers with very short split to top front hinge, a couple of pages with a faint crease; small chip to paint at top of front cover; remnants of original glassine present. Very Good. Kenneth Patchen. Covers painted in color by Kenneth Patchen with interior illustrations from paintings by the author with the limitation statement at the rear written in Patchen's hand: "this Edition is Limited to one Hundred and Fifty Numbered & SIGNED Copies with Covers Decorated by the Author (no two covers alike)." This is copy #86 and features a giant figure looming over trees and houses at night.

[Berkeley]: Bern Porter, 1947. First Edition. No. 23 of 150 copies in hand-painted boards. Square octavo (20.5cm x 20.5cm); [2], 67 pp. Thick raw decorated boards; text tinted in blue with red & blue title page; interior monochrome illustrations from paintings by the author. Signed and numbered on the rear cover. Lacking the glassine dustwrapper called for by Morgan, but with a (later?) blue oilcloth jacket, possibly a variant supplied by Patchen, or possibly the work of a previous collector (no such copies are noted in Morgan). Some rubbing to board edges; typical offsetting to endpapers and a small stain to title page; Very Good. The scarce deluxe issue, each copy of which had a unique, hand-painted cover. In our experience, the paintings Patchen executed on this, the second of his painted books, varied wildly in quality - perhaps unsurprising given the antipathy he is said to have had for the book; Morgan quotes publisher Bern Porter as saying that Patchen so loathed the design and finished look… Read More