'MALLEY, Ern'

The Darkening Ecliptic [a collection of 21 publications from 1944 to 2017, containing either the entire text or selected poems]

Formats and condition vary, but most of the items are in very good condition or better.

This collection contains an interesting cross-section relating to the publication and reception of the 'Ern Malley' poems over more than seven decades. Key pieces include the 1944 Reed & Harris overseas edition of the first separate printing of 'The Darkening Ecliptic'; the 1974 McAlpine edition with illustrations by Sidney Nolan, limited to 1000 copies; and the 1988 limited edition of only 100 copies, signed by Max Harris, Joanna Murray-Smith and 'Ern Malley'. Also of note is the very early appearance of three of the poems in the American literary journal 'Voices', together with an essay by Max Harris, 'Commentary on Australian Poetry'. The essay 'was written at the time that Max Harris was preparing the 1944 Autumn Number of "Angry Penguins", "to Commemorate the Australian Poet Ern Malley". The Ern Malley issue (35 of the 108 pages were devoted to Malley) was published at the beginning of June, and the hoax had been revealed within the month ... This article for "Voices" appears to be the only instance outside "Angry Penguins" where Harris wrote believing Ern Malley to be a real person. The particular interest of the article is Harris's placing of the Malley poems in the context of Australian poetry, something which he did not attempt anywhere else' (Des Cowley: 'Annotation: "Experiment with Death" by Max Harris', in 'The La Trobe Journal', Number 64, Spring 1999). Less well-known, but surely of greater lasting significance, is the inclusion in this volume of 'one of the "secret life" poems of the Aranda tribe of Central Australia ... recorded and translated by T.G.H. Strehlow, an authority on the aborigine language. It is a song of the great warrior Ankotarinja ... Both the original poem and the translation appear'.

The collection comprises:

1. 'Voices, A Quarterly of Poetry, Number 118, Australian Issue'. Battleboro, E.L. Vinal, Summer 1944. Includes three poems from 'The Darkening Ecliptic'.
2. 'The Darkening Ecliptic'. Melbourne, Reed & Harris, November 1944. Australian edition (worn and waterstained).
3. 'The Darkening Ecliptic'. Melbourne, Reed & Harris, November 1944. Overseas edition.
4. 'Mandrake, Vol. 1, No. 6'. London, Arthur Boyars, 1949. The section 'New Verse from Australia' includes six poems from 'The Darkening Ecliptic'. The editors appear to have been unaware of the hoax.
5. 'Locus Solus II', Paris, Harry Mathews, 1961. Includes two poems.
6. 'Ern Malley's Poems. With an Introduction by Max Harris'. Melbourne, Lansdowne Press, 1961. Dustwrapper split and stained.
7. 'Ern Malley's Poems. Introduction by Max Harris'. Adelaide, Mary Martin Publications, 1969. A reprint of the Lansdowne Press edition.
8. 'Juillard, Summer 1970'. London, Trevor Winkfield, 1970. One poem only.
9. 'Ern Malley's Poems. Introduction by Max Harris'. Adelaide, Mary Martin Publications, 1974. Adelaide Festival of Arts Special Edition.
10. 'The Darkening Ecliptic. Poems by Ern Malley. Paintings by Sidney Nolan'. London, R. Alistair McAlpine, 1974. One of 1000 copies.
11. 'Angry Penguins [No. 6]. 1944 Autumn Number to Commemorate the Australian Poet Ern Malley'. [Adelaide, Mary Martin Publications, 1979]. 35th Anniversary facsimile edition, number 379 of 1000 copies.
12. 'The Penguin Book of Australian Satirical Verse'. Melbourne, Penguin Books, 1986. One poem.
13. 'The Poems of Ern Malley. Comprising the Complete Poems and Commentaries by Max Harris and Joanna Murray-Smith'. Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988. Number 9 of 100 copies, signed by Max Harris, Joanna Murray-Smith and 'Ern Malley'. Original prospectus and some related ephemera loosely inserted.
14. Norman Waddell: 'The Immortal Ern Malley. One of Australia's foremost poets', in 'The Otani Gakuho, The Journal of Buddhist Studies and Humanities'. Kyoto, Otani University, 1989. An essay on the hoax in Japanese, with several poems and extracts quoted. Harold Stewart's copy.
15. 'The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry'. Melbourne, Penguin Books, 1991. All sixteen poems.
16. 'Ern Malley, Collected Poems'. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1993.
17. 'The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Australian Poetry'. Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe Books, 1994. The British edition of 'The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry' (1991, see above).
18. 'Life as a Poet, Vol. 7'. Brass Tacks Press, California. All sixteen poems.
19. Emma Kidd: 'The Ern Malley Affair. Le Scandale Ern Malley'. Lyon, The Artist, 2008. A collection of illustrations inspired by the poems. Number 3 of 96 copies.
20. David Rainey: 'Ern Malley, The Hoax and Beyond'. Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne. Includes reduced facsimiles of the poems from 'Angry Penguins #6'.
21. 'The Darkening Ecliptic. With Commentary by Albert Tucker, Colin Wilson, Max Harris & John Reed. Artwork by Garry Shead'. Exile Bay, ETT Imprint, 2017.

[21 items].

Item #122420

Price (AUD): $2,400.00
other currencies