THE TEXT/TECH PAPERS

Journal Issue

Open this 1967 issue of Trace and the contents begin making their own introductions. It contains 37 named pieces or sections, beginning with Towards Print (selected Poetries : Immediate Ancestries) by James Boyer May, The Robbers of Publishers’ Row by Curtis W. Casewit, and Edward Thomas. 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.

Towards Print (selected Poetries : Immediate Ancestries) by James Boyer May gives Trace no. 66 its clearest point of entry, while The Robbers of Publishers’ Row by Curtis W. Casewit and Edward Thomas widen the issue’s field. Dated 1967, this substantial number contains 37 pieces or named sections, moving between writing about literature, creative work, reviews, correspondence, and the everyday work of a little magazine. The order matters: recurring editorial features sit beside contributions with their own aims, so the magazine feels like an exchange among writers rather than a stack of unrelated pages. The reader’s edition makes that sequence easy to follow; the private source facsimile preserves the cover, page design, advertisements, visual material, and directory information that locate the writing in its first publication. Together, the reading edition and private source record show James Boyer May keeping a place for new writing while also showing how independent magazines found one another.

The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, George Abbe changes the view; the closing stretch reaches The 1967-68 Address List. 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 A. C. Perkins, A. Fredric Franklin, A. Fredric Franklyn, A. P. Schroeder, Abigail Ann Hamblen, Archie Rosenhouse, Aristophanes to Brecht’s Socrates, and Bert (Netherlands) Voeten, along with 102 additional contributors. 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 James Boyer May, published by Villiers Publications Ltd., and issued from London, England; Hollywood, California (editorial office). 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—Little magazines, Experimental literature, Poetry, Fiction, and Literary criticism—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 Towards Print (selected Poetries : Immediate Ancestries) by James Boyer May, turn next to George Abbe, and finish with The 1967-68 Address List. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 210 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 184 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.

Contributors
Publication details
Full contents
  • Towards Print (selected Poetries : Immediate Ancestries) — James Boyer May [Essay, p. 6]
  • The Robbers of Publishers’ Row — Curtis W. Casewit [Contribution, p. 9]
  • Edward Thomas [Contribution, p. 21]
  • A Tired Horse — Knute Skinner [Essay, p. 25]
  • Editors (and others) Write [Correspondence, p. 29]
  • Far East Gossip — M. D. Elevitch [Correspondence, p. 30]
  • ‘Like Farting Annie Laurie Through a Keyhole’ — Harley Elliott [Correspondence, p. 30]
  • Again: Why Not Pay Writers? — A. C. Perkins [Correspondence, p. 32]
  • Exceptions to Hugh Fox on Latin Mags — Margaret Randall [Correspondence, p. 33]
  • Brief on Hart Crane & the Artists of Technology — John Baker [Contribution, p. 35]
  • Wallace Stevens — John Tryford [Essay, p. 44]
  • (John Tryford’s Random Notes) [Contribution, p. 44]
  • The Private Investigators of an Undertow [Contribution, p. 69]
  • (To His Coy Mistress) [Contribution, p. 75]
  • Martha’s Portionpies [Contribution, p. 78]
  • Green Heavens — A. P. Schroeder [Contribution, p. 79]
  • An Exchange — A. P. Schroeder [Contribution, p. 80]
  • Day of Rest [Contribution, p. 81]
  • George Abbe [Contribution, p. 91]
  • The Mechanical Sweetheart — Gerald Alper [Contribution, p. 94]
  • A (w)hors(e)s Opera [Contribution, p. 103]
  • — A Drama of the Old West — [Contribution, p. 103]
  • Until — [Contribution, p. 106]
  • Thomas Bledsoe [Contribution, p. 109]
  • Enter Fortinbras — James D. Houston [Contribution, p. 111]
  • Scene : Fortinbras and the Holy Grail [Contribution, p. 112]
  • Program Notes [Contribution, p. 113]
  • Epilogue (to Be Spoken by Fortinbras from a Dark Stage) [Contribution, p. 113]
  • Harvest — Marion Woodall [Contribution, p. 122]
  • The Retiring Professor Looks Out Across the Pepsi Generation, as if a Fierce Dove Went Forth [Contribution, p. 123]
  • THE WAR GAME (IS A) PRIVILEGE (BUT) DON’T LOOK BACK (Or: But First, A Little Song . . .) — A. Fredric Franklin [Contribution, p. 126]
  • Dangers of Workshop Criticism — Dean Lipton [Essay, p. 150]
  • William Packard: Poetry in the Theatre—v [Contribution, p. 159]
  • Towards Print: Continued from Page 314 — James Boyer May [Essay, p. 170]
  • J. Michael Yates [Contribution, p. 171]
  • The Chronicle [Reference, p. 182]
  • The 1967-68 Address List [Reference, p. 183]
Rights and citation

Copyright remains with the respective authors, artists, publisher, or successors.

Copyright Status Unresolved

Rights in the individual contributions and the periodical compilation have not been fully resolved.

Trace, no. 66 (1967). Text/Tech Journals reader’s edition, 2026.