Pegasus, Vol. 1, No. 6 (February 1924)

This February 1924 number of Pegasus is best met through the writing itself. It contains 10 named pieces or sections, beginning with Earth-Worms by George Sterling, In Memoriam by Charles Howard Marsh, and A Day by Virgil Geddes. That opening offers a direct path through the issue, but it is not the only one. A reader can follow the printed order, pause over a familiar contributor, or start with a title that catches the eye. No special background is needed. The magazine explains itself gradually through the choices it makes and through the company each piece keeps.

The final number of Volume I joins Pegasus's local and experimental circle to two much more widely known western poets. George Sterling's opening sonnet, 'Earth-Worms,' brings the California bohemian's cosmic scale to the magazine; Poetry Foundation records Sterling as a central figure in the San Francisco and Carmel literary worlds. Later, 'Old Mortality' is credited jointly to Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu, anticipating the collaboration in Chinese translation for which Bynner became especially known. The named form Three Desert Songs sits beside shorter songs and descriptive lyrics, making the issue’s craft visible in rhyme, stanza, and carefully managed closure. That combination gives the San Diego number a regional modernity of its own: harbor, desert, city, and intimate address enter print through inherited forms being adjusted to Western subjects.

The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, In Dreams by Samuel Heller changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Moon Wraiths by Gertrude Kiper. The works differ in length, subject, and manner, yet their placement creates connections that a simple list of names cannot show. The pleasure comes from those changes. A short piece can clear the air after a longer one, a new voice can redirect the mood, and an unexpected title can make an earlier page look different when the reader thinks back to it.

The contributor list includes George Sterling, Charles Howard Marsh, Virgil Geddes, Agnes Cornell, Samuel Heller, Alice M. Fay, Tu Fu · translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu, and E. Richard Shipp, along with 1 additional contributor. Some readers will arrive looking for a particular name; others will meet these contributors here for the first time. Either approach works. The publication details add useful context: the issue was edited by W. H. Lench, published by W. H. Lench, and issued from San Diego, California. A journal is also a made object, assembled by people deciding what to print, how to order it, and which voices should share a number. Reading from beginning to end lets those choices appear naturally.

The catalog subjects—Los Angeles literary culture, American poetry, Little magazines, and Desert—are useful starting points, especially for searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. For a first visit, begin with Earth-Worms by George Sterling, turn next to In Dreams by Samuel Heller, and finish with Moon Wraiths by Gertrude Kiper. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 18 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 21 PDF pages. It keeps the contents in a stable, legible form and makes names and titles easier to find. A source facsimile remains part of the project’s private editorial record, but it is not included in the public upload. What appears here is the reading copy: a practical way to spend time with the issue and discover which pieces invite a return.