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16 pp. 22x17 cm (8½x6¾"), original saddle-sewn red wrappers illustrated by Kenn Davis. 1 of 700 copies. Second Edition.

 A scarce author's presentation copy of Brautigan's second book, first published by the White Rabbit Press in 1958. This copy Inscribed by Brautigan on the title page: "This copy is for Shig. Richard Brautigan, Dec. 16, 1966."  Shig (Shigeyoshi Murao) was the long-time City Lights Bookstore manager and Ferlinghetti's co-defendant in the famous "Howl" case. He was also the editor / publisher of the short-lived but important literary journal Shig’s Review (1960-69), that has contributions from many Beat and San Francisco authors. He was an intimate friend to many of the Beat poets, and several generations of poets who used City Lights as their reading room and library; Brautigan was likely among these. Visiting beats, like Ginsberg and Orlovsky, often stayed at Shig's apartment. Shig also has some literary-legal fame from his role as a defendant in the famous 1957 Howl obscenity trial. “…in June of that year (1957), local police raided City Lights Bookstore and arrested store manager Shigeyoshi Murao on the charge of offering an obscene book for sale. Ferlinghetti, then in Big Sur, turned himself in on his return to San Francisco. Both faced a possible $500 fine and a 6-month sentence. (Ginsberg was in Tangiers at the time, and not charged). The municipal court trial, presided over by Judge Clayton W. Horn, ran from August 16 to September 3, 1957... Judge Horn rendered his precedent-setting verdict, declaring that Howl was not obscene and that a book with ‘the slightest redeeming social importance’ guarantees First Amendment protection. Horn’s decision established the precedent that paved the way for the publication of such hitherto banned books as D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly's Lover and Henry Miller’s 1934 Tropic of Cancer. The media attention resulting from the trial stimulated national interest, and, by 1958, there were 20,000 copies in print.” This book provides an interesting link between the beats and the emerging counterculture. It is connected to the most significant single work of Beat poetry, one of the most famous literary trials, and one of the greatest victories for free speech in the 20th Century.