BRAUTIGAN, Richard "Would You Like to Saddle Up a Couple of Goldfish and Swim to Alaska?" [Bancroft, 1995]

BRAUTIGAN, Richard. Would You Like to Saddle Up a Couple of Goldfish and Swim to Alaska?

Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press, 1995. Limited edition of 50 copies. Slim quarto in original printed wrappers. 16pp. Cover illustration by Philip Kuznicki, with erratum slip present correcting the misspelling of the artist’s name. Printed at the Berkeley Albion handpress under the direction of Peter Koch. Pages remain uncut. As New.

The first appearance in print of a previously unpublished Brautigan text, written in Oregon in the mid-1950s and dedicated to Edna Webster (“for Edna” printed as issued). A brief, dreamlike sequence of vignettes centered on an intimate relationship, moving between quiet domestic moments and gently surreal imagery, and culminating in a characteristic Brautigan blend of tenderness, humor, and understated melancholy. Produced in a strictly limited edition of 50 copies, not issued for public sale and largely distributed privately. A scarce Bancroft Library Press production, seldom encountered on the market, particularly with erratum slip and in this uncut state.