Special Collections Department
The Ishmael Reed Papers
IV. Editing and Publishing, 1965-1992
Extent: 11.2 linear ft.
Contents: Poetry, fiction, essays, correspondence, newspapers, magazines, clippings, typescripts, galleys, proofs, paste ups, blue lines, books, photographs, drawings, artwork, notes, flyers, financial papers, legal papers.
Arrangement: Series IV. Editing and Publishing has been divided into seven subseries. Series IV.1. Early Projects has been arranged chronologically with some exceptions. Series IV.2. Yardbird has been subdivided into compilations under this name and the individually authored Wing Editions. Within these subheadings, arrangement is chronological. Series IV.3. I. Reed Books has been arranged alphabetically by author's last name, then by title, where applicable, with few exceptions. Series IV.4. Reed, Cannon and Johnson includes papers from a brief period in which the publishing house was known only as Reed Cannon. This period has been isolated in a subheading, and both subheadings have been arranged in chronological order with few exceptions. Series IV.5. Quilt has been arranged chronologically by publication. With the exception of River Styx (with which Reed was loosely associated), which falls at the end of the subseries, Series IV.6. Miscellaneous Publishing is arranged chronologically. Series IV.7. Submissions has been arranged alphabetically by author, with subheadings of Unsolicited Submissions and Miscellaneous.
Description:
Reed's extensive editing and publishing activities are richly, although a bit unevenly, documented in Series IV. Little except references in correspondence and clippings exist for the earliest efforts, which include collaborating on the book The Rise, Fall, and...? of Adam Clayton Powell (1967), and editing the Newark, New Jersey, newspaper Advance and the underground newspaper The East Village Other. Information on Reed's activities during these years can be obtained from his autobiographical writing in Series I, however. The anthology Reed edited, 19 Necromancers from Now, is better documented with some typescript and correspondence.
Reed's later publishing activities, including publications of Yardbird Press, Yardbird Wing Editions, Reed Cannon and Johnson, I. Reed Books, and the magazines Quilt and Konch, are more fully documented with correspondence, business and legal records, publicity and advertising copy, draft and corrected typescripts from contributors, and paste-ups and setting copy. There is also a subseries of manuscripts, some designated "unsolicited," associated with Reed's multiple and sometimes overlapping publishing ventures. Submissions throughout the series represent a significant contribution from minority writers through the 1960s and 1970s.
Contents List
31 Series IV. Editing and publishing, 1965-1992
Series IV.1. Early projects, 1965-1970
F1 The Rise, Fall, and...? of Adam Clayton Powell, 1967
F2 Advance, 1965
Removals to oversize small.
F2a East Village Other, 1966 - 1969
See also Series XI. Media. Removals to oversize small.
19 Necromancers From Now, 1965-1990
F3 Intro drafts, [1965]
F4 Contents, drafts, bios, [1969-1970]
F5 Cover copy, galleys
Removal to galley box.
F6 Correspondence, reviews, publicity, permissions, 1969-1970
F6a The Amistad, prospectus, [1969]
Series IV.2. Yardbird, 1970-1980
F7 Board of directors, 1971-1978
F8 Correspondence, 1972-1979
F9 Mixed correspondence, ca. 1974-1980
F10 Mixed correspondence, ca. 1981-1985
F11 Mixed notes and business correspondence, 1976, 1979-1981
F12 Unused submissions and related correspondence (I), 1976-1979
F13 Unused submissions and related correspondence (II), 1977-1978
F14 Receipts, 1972-1978
F15 Master copies, n.d.
F16 Publicity (I), 1971-1974
Removals to oversize small.
F17 Publicity (II), 1975
Removals to oversize small.
31 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.2. Yardbird (cont'd)
F18 Advertising (I), 1974-1975
F19 Advertising (II), 1976-1978
Removals to oversize small.
F20 Reviews and responses (I), 1972-1974
F21 Reviews and responses (II), 1975-1978
Removals to oversize small.
F22 Reviews and responses collection, 1972-1976
F23 Miscellaneous clippings and announcements, 1972-1979
F24 Pushcart prize, 1980
F25 Legal proceedings, 1977-1979
F26 Financial records, 1972-1977
F27 Partnership agreement, 1977
32 Yardbird Reader #1, 1972-1973
F28 Miscellaneous typescripts and copies
F29 Miscellaneous correspondence and notes, 1972-1973
F30 Copies (I) prose
F31 Copies (II) poetry
F32 Edited typescript copy
F33 Yardbird #2, n.d.
Yardbird #3, n.d.
F34 Edited copy
F35 Ad copy and cover design
32 Series IV. Editing and Publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.2. Yardbird (cont'd)
Yardbird #4, 1975
F36 Correspondence, contributors, contents
F36a Contents
F37 Art, photography, printing
F38 Setting copy (I)
F39 Setting copy (II)
F40 Miscellaneous paste-ups and proofs
F41 Paste-up proofs, p. 1-95
F42 Paste-up proofs, p. 96-195
F43 Book and reviews
Yardbird #5, 1976
F44 Miscellaneous notes, contents, advertising
F44a Contents
33 F45 Galleys and paste-ups
Removals to oversize small.
F46 Book, bound proof, and correction notes
F47 Best of Yardbird contents and miscellaneous typescripts
F48 Miscellaneous typescripts and correspondence, c.1976
F49 "Editing Yardbird" typescript
F50 Yardbird Lives, 1978-1979
Removals to oversize small.
33 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.2. Yardbird (cont'd)
Yardbird Magazine, 1978-1980
F51 Yardbird Magazine correspondence and miscellaneous typescripts, 1978-1980
Yardbird Magazine #1
F52 Contributors' biographical information
F53 Miscellaneous typescript and setting copy
F54 Edited typescripts (I)
F55 Edited typescripts (II)
F56 Corrected page proofs
F57 "Archetype" paste-ups and printed copy (Some items removed to oversize)
Yardbird Magazine #2
F58 Book, poster, and printing bill, 1978
Removals to oversize small and large.
F59 Photographs and ordered typescripts
Wing Editions, 1970-1980
F60 Advertising and correspondence
Removals to oversize small.
F61 Business records
F62 Youth Law Handbook, William Samuels, 1976
Changing All Those Changes, James P. Girard
F63 Manuscript and setting copy
F64 Negative, photograph, and paste-ups
F65 Galleys and page proofs (Some removed to oversize small)
F66 Defective copies
Calafia
F67 Poems and notes
F68 California poets research (I), 1976
F69 California poets research (II)
F70 California poets research (III)
F71 "To xerox and place in anthology," n.d.
F72 Editor notes
F73 Author biographical cards and notes, n.d.
F74 Permissions notes and correspondence, 1976-1977
33 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.2. Yardbird (cont'd)
Wing Editions (cont'd)
Calafia (cont'd)
F75 "Working file" with permissions correspondence, 1977-1978
F76 Anonymous
34 Calafia Poets & Bios
F77 A-B
F78 C-D
F79 E-H
F80 I-K
F81 L-M
F82 N-R
F83 S-T
F84 V-Z
F85 Miscellaneous
F86 Folders and envelopes, n.d.
Calafia introduction
F87 Draft pages and notes
F88 Draft pages, notes, introduction, n.d.
F89 "Is the Only Cultural Advantage...," c. 1970
F90 Callahan
F91 Ortiz, Wong, Yamauchi, Anderson, Young, 1977
F92 Table of contents, n.d.
Calafia Collected Copy #1
F93 Introductions
F94 A-B
F95 C-F
F96 G-L
F97 M-R
F98 S-T
F99 V-Z
34 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.2. Yardbird (cont'd)
Wing Editions (cont'd)
Calafia (cont'd)
Calafia Typesetting Copy
F100 Title, contents, acknowledgments
F101 Bios A-H
F102 Bios I-R
F103 Bios S-Z
F104 Paste-up pages and typesetting notes
F105 Corrected galleys (I) Introduction-p.50
35 F106 Corrected galleys (II) p. 51-141
F107 Corrected galley (III) p. 142-end
F108 Corrected page proofs (I) p. title-249
F109 Corrected page proofs (II) p. 250-end
F110 Publicity
F111 Reviews and responses, 1979-1980
Lay My Body on the Line, Floyd Salas
F112 Part I, 1978
F113 Part II, 1978
F114 Part III, 1978
F115 Setting copy, 1978
F116 Paperback, 1978
Series IV.3. I. Reed Books, 1979-1988
F117 Cosby grant
F118 Proposal: "Black Men Talk Back," n.d.
F119 Publicity, 1980-1982
Removals to oversize small and large.
F120 Publicity, 1984-1988
Removals to oversize small.
F121 Miscellaneous
F122 The Sidney Poet Heroical, Amiri Baraka, 1979
Cover designs and correspondence. Removals to oversize small.
35 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.3. I. Reed Books (cont'd)
F123 Heat Bird, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge
Random Possession, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge
F124 Typescript, 1979
F124a Photocopy typescript, signed
F125 Photocopy, 1979
F125a Paste ups
Removals to oversize large.
F126 Galleys, 1979
F127 Correspondence and reviews, 1978-1981
What Moon Drove Me To This?, Joy Harjo
F128 Correspondence, reviews, and cover design
Removals to oversize small.
F129 Photocopy typescript
F130 Paste-ups
Winters Without Snow, Colleen McElroy
F131 Correspondence and art, 1978-1981
F132 Setting copy
F133 Proofs, book, and paste ups
Removals to oversize large.
36 Yolanda and the Strange Objects, Lezley Saar
F134 Typescript with drawings
F135 Photocopy with drawings
F136 Paste-ups
Removals to oversize small.
F137 Correspondence, photo, and review, 1979
Snake-Back Solos, Quincy Troope
F138 Paste-ups, 1979
F139 Photo, cover, and reviews, 1979
Removals to oversize small.
36 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.3. I. Reed Books (cont'd)
Homebase, Shawn Wong
F140 Correspondence and reviews, 1979-1982
Removals to oversize small.
F141 Bound photocopied typescript with corrections, 1979
F141a Bound typescript with corrections, 1978
F142 Paste-ups, 1979
Removals to oversize small.
F143 Books, 1979 and 1982
Rhinestone Sharecropping, Bill Gunn
F144 Typescript, 1981
F145 Correspondence, press release, and reviews, 1982
The Bathers, Lorenzo Thomas
F146 Correspondence, cover design, publicity, reviews, Dracula, 1981
F147 Typescript, 1981
Secrets, Gossip & Slander, Carol Bergé
F148 Typescript, press release, correspondence, 1983
F149 Photocopied proofs, 1984
F149a Book
F150 Publicity, 1984
A Lagoon Is In My Back Yard, Sister Goodwin
F151 Typescript
F151a Publicity, 1985
Peeling: Poems, Yuri Kageyama
F152 Paste-ups, 1988
F152a Reviews, ca. 1988
F153 Changing the River, Alex Kuo, 1986-1987
37 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.4. Reed, Cannon, & Johnson, 1974-1987
Reed & Cannon
F154 Personal Problems
F155 Correspondence, 1974-1979
F156 Business documents, 1981-1983
F157 Announcements, 1979-1986
F158 Information, 1983-1987
F159 Clippings regarding black writers and publishing, 1975-1984
Reed, Cannon & Johnson
F160 Business documents, 1974-1978
F161 General files and announcements
Removals to oversize small.
F162 Press releases
F163 Correspondence
F164 Correspondence with Al Young, 1976
F165 Reviews, 1974-1976
F166 Reviews 1977-1978
F167 Information, Two Hands News, 1976-1979
Francisco, Alison Mills
F168 Photographss, ads, and reviews, part I, 1974
F169 Photographs, ads, and reviews, part II, 1974
Tropicalization, Victor Hern ndez Cruz
F170 Correspondence, cover, layout, and reviews, 1976
Removals to oversize small.
F171 Typescript photocopy, 1976
F172 Page proofs, corrected, 1976
F173 Black Picture Show, Bill Gunn, 1976
Correspondence, playbill, and reviews. Removals to oversize small.
F174 Medicine Man, Calvin Hernton, 1976
Correspondence, prospectus, and reviews.
37 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.4. Reed, Cannon, & Johnson (cont'd)
F175 Jambalaya: Four Poets, 1976
Photographs, manuscript, correspondence, prospectus, and reviews. Removals to
oversize small.
Love Story Black, William Demby
F176 Correspondence and notes, 1978-1980
F177 Original, part I, 1978
F178 Original, part II, 1978
F179 Typescript with corrections, part I, 1978
F180 Typescript with corrections, part II, 1978
F181 Setting copy, 1978
F181a Review, n.d.
The Crisis of Possession In Voodoo, Louis Mars
F182 Manuscript, 1977
F183 Original French text
Removals to oversize small.
F184 Correspondence, proofs, articles, and cover, 1977
Removals to oversize small.
F185 Paste-ups
Hoodoo Medicine, Faith Mitchell
F186 Proofs and book, 1978
F187 Paste ups and cover design, 1978
Removals to oversize small.
F188 Correspondence, photograph, reviews, and press release, 1975-1980
F189 Miscellaneous photos, n.d.
38 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.5. Quilt, 1981-1987
F190 Quilt correspondence, 1981-1987
Quilt #1
F191 Miscellaneous
F192 Manuscript
F192a Paste-ups, part I
F192b Paste-ups, part II
F192c Paste-ups, part III
F192d Paste-ups, part IV
F193 Introduction and notes
F194 Osing, Gordon, "To the Lady from the Boundary Waters"
F195 Gonz lez, Genaro, "A Bad Back"
F196 Jeffers, Lance, The Blues and Rachmaninoff (excerpt)
F197 Bernikow, Louise, "Woman as Saxophone"
F198 Simpson, Mona, "A Small Incident"
F199 Komunyakaa, Yusef, Three poems
F200 Brown, Cecil M., "Plate Du Jour: Soul Food: Truman Capote on Black Culture, an
Interview"
F201 Damas, Leon G., "Hiccup" (translated by B. Szerlip)
F202 Reveaux, Anthony, "Blacks and Reds and Whites in Cartoons"
F203 Reviews, correspondence, and art
F204 Miscellaneous
Quilt #2
F205 Cover design and manuscript
F206 Manuscript, blue lines with notes, and publicity
F207 Proofs, part I
F208 Proofs, part II
F209 Proofs, part I
F210 Proofs, part II
F210a Paste ups
Removals to oversize large.
38 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.5. Quilt (cont'd)
Quilt #3
F211 Prospectus, ads, and reviews
F212 Paste-ups, part I, cover layout
Removals to oversize small.
F213 Paste-ups, part II
F214 Quilt #4
Reviews and publicity.
F215 Quilt #5
Proofs, art, correspondence, and reviews.
F216 Quilt miscellaneous
Best of Quilt
39 F217 Table of contents, Y'Bird 1
F218 Y'bird 2
F219 Quilt 1
F220 Quilt 2
F221 Quilt 3
F222 Quilt 4
F223 Quilt 5
Best of Quilt paste ups
F224 Table of contents, Y'Bird 1
F225 Y'bird 2
F226 Quilt 1
F227 Quilt 2
F228 Quilt 3
F229 Quilt 4
F230 Quilt 5
39 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.6. Miscellaneous editing and publishing, 1972-1992
F231 Dues, 1972-1974
F232 Before Columbus Foundation
Removals to oversize small.
F233 Konch, 1992
F234 The Argonaut, 1992
Review.
F235 Ishmael Reed Publishing, 1989-1990
F236 River Styx, 1981-1984
F236a Unidentified miscellaneous
Removals to oversize large.
40 Series IV.7. Submissions, 1974-1982
F237 Barlow, George, 1974
F238 Brown, Cecil, "Two Niggers"
F239 Cannon, Steve, "King Kong as a Nigger," Voo Doo Gumbo (The F Layer) A Hoo
Doo Mystery!, poems.
F240 Hagedorn, Jessica, "Bump City"
F241 Harper, Michael
F242 Loftis, N.J., The Immortal and the Damned, 1978
F243 Mitchell, Faith, 1979
F244 Nazareth, Peter, X
40 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.7. Submissions (cont'd)
F245 Roth, Henry, "O Sweet Saturday Sonnet"
F246 Salas, Floyd, "Las Palmas" and assorted poems, 1977.
F247 Shange, Ntozake, New Daughters, 1974
F248 Shange, Ntozake, 8 pieces and 'a photograph' / other forms, 1978
F249 Anthology suggestions, and photocopies from original publications
Unsolicited submissions
Burkhalter, Mary, The 500th Year of Reason, 1978
F250 Part I
F251 Part II
Chin, Frank, Charlie Chan On Maui
F253 Part I
F254 Part II
F255 Part III
F256 Chin, Frank, Gee Pop.
F257 Gee, Terry, "Love Always, Dragon," 1982
F258 Hubenthal, Mahlon, Coyote and Platinum Blonde, 1978
F259 Johnson, Mark S., Quiet Broadwway
F260 Lockett, Reginald, 1979
Nieh, Hualing, Two Women of China
F261 Part I
F262 Part II
F263 Part III
F264 Part IV
40 Series IV. Editing and publishing (cont'd)
Series IV.7. Submissions (cont'd)
Unsolicited submissions (cont'd)
F265 Nomathemba, Ojen-dea, Cadre
F266 Weathers, Diane
Miscellaneous
F267 Part I, 1970s
F268 Part II
Return to Ishmael Reed Papers Index Page
Return to List of Manuscript Finding Aids by Title
citation and reference information
The Ishmael Reed Papers
Manuscript Collection Number: 398
Accessioned: Purchases, 1980-1995.
Extent: 65 linear ft.
Content: Correspondence, novels, plays, poems, essays, reviews, speeches, magazines, posters, clippings, brochures, flyers, broadsides, photographs, artwork, books, galley and page proofs, financial documents, catalogs, programs, photocopies, sound recordings, schedules, comic books, notes, transcripts, awards, certificates, minutes, audiovisual recordings, and miscellaneous ephemera.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: 1998-1999 by Shiela Pardee, completed by Anita Wellner.
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Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
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