Shaped Poetry. A suite of 30 Typographic Prints Chronicling this Literary Form from 300 BC to the Present

San Francisco: Arion Press, 1981. First edition. Loose prints in a black paper wrapper with title letterpress printed on the front, with companion volume of two sewn signatures in paper wrapper with letterpress printed title; both volumes in a black cloth-covered drop-spine case with black styrofoam walls. Light shelfwear and rubbing to outer case else a fine copy, separate plexiglass display frame lacking.. Folio. 18 x 14 inches (46 x 35.5 cm). One of 300 copies. Suite of 30 typographic prints (broadside format), each on a different handmade paper in a wide range of typefaces and a variety of colors, presenting poems written in shapes from 300 b.c.e. to the present, with a volume of notes on the selections by Glenn Todd and Andrew Hoyem. Two volumes. This was the eighth publication of the Arion Press. Plate [12] of the prints is folded accordion style, and is accompanied by translation on separate sheet (plate [12a]). Plate [17] is printed on both sides of sheet. Contents: 1. Egg, Greece, 300 BC by Simias; 2. Pan Pipes, Greece, 250 BC by Theocritus; 3. Altar, Byzantium, 325 by Porfyrius Optatianus; 4. Acrostic, France, 1537 by Eustorg de Beaulieu; 5. Altar, England, 1633 by George Herbert; 6. Easter Wings, England, 1633 by George Herbert 7. Lute, France, 1634 by Robert Angot; 8. The Cross, England, 1647 by Robert Herrick; 9. Chalice, Germany, 1663 by Justus Georg Schottel; 10. Bottle, France, 1750 by Charles François Panard; 11. The Mouse's Tale, England, 1865 by Lewis Carroll; 12. Un coup de dés. [12a] A Throw of the Dice, France, 1897 by Stéphane Mallarmé; 13. Fish's Nightsong, Germany, 1903 by Christian Morgenstern; 14. Balloon, Italy, 1914 by F.T. Marinetti; 15. Necktie, France, 1914 by Guillaume Apollinaire. 16. It is Raining, France, 1918 by Guillaume Apollinaire; 17. Bohemian Crystal Vase, France, 1920 by André Breton; 18. Rose is a Rose, USA, 1920 by Gertrude Stein; 10. Sound Poem, USA, 1924 by Man Ray; 20. Grasshopper, USA, 1935 by E.E. Cummings; 21. Vision & Prayer, Wales, 1946 by Dylan Thomas; 22. Silence, Switzerland, 1954 by Eugen Gomringer; 23. Four to the Fourth Power, Germany, 1957 by Dieter Roth; 24. The Totem, USA, 1958 by May Swenson; 25. Voice, USA, 1959 by Philip Lamantia; 26. Caracol, Brazil, 1960 by Augusto de Campos; 27. Redboat, Scotland, 1963 by Ian Hamilton Finlay; 28. Seagull, USSR, c. 1970 by Andrei Voznesensky; 29. Swan and Shadow, USA, 1970 by John Hollander; 30. Rebus, USA, 1981 by Andrew Hoyem. Lacking the plexiglas display frame.