Journal Issue
Published in Summer 1965, no. 57 of Trace gives readers several clear ways into the magazine. It contains 38 named pieces or sections, beginning with No Brake Signals by James Boyer May, Neoteric Verbalizings Run On by James Boyer May, and Bierce to Miller. 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.
No Brake Signals by James Boyer May gives Trace no. 57 its clearest point of entry, while Neoteric Verbalizings Run On by James Boyer May and Bierce to Miller widen the issue’s field. Dated Summer 1965, this substantial number contains 38 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, Iii Opinions changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Graphics. 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. Fredric Franklyn, Arnold Lazarus, Carl Larsen, Carl Linder, Charles J. Shagoury, Christopher Perret, Darling, and David J. Raine, along with 45 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 No Brake Signals by James Boyer May, turn next to Iii Opinions, and finish with Graphics. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 108 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 115 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
- A. Fredric Franklyn — Poet
- Arnold Lazarus — Contributor
- Carl Larsen — Reviewer
- Carl Linder — Essayist
- Charles J. Shagoury — Contributor
- Christopher Perret — Contributor
- Darling — Reviewer
- David J. Raine — Poet
- David Lee Pagari — Essayist
- David Lee Pagari ON TRANSVESTITE VERSE — Contributor
- David Margolis — Contributor
- Ed Bullins — Poet
- Edsel Ford — Poet
- Ellen Field — Correspondent
- Frank Ankenbrand — Artist
- George Trakl — Poet
- GleM R. Swetman — Poet
- Glenn R. Swetman — Poet
- Guy Rene Cadou — Poet
- HALL, LOWENFELS, NIN — Contributor
- J Michael Yates — Poet
- James Boyer May — Essayist
- James McMann — Poet
- Jane M. Evans — Poet
- JeanneS. Bagby — Correspondent
- Jo McDougall — Correspondent
- Joel Weishaus — Poet
- John Tagliabue — Poet
- Jorge Carrera Andrade — Poet
- Joseph Joel Keith — Poet
- Joyce Odam — Contributor
- Katherine Gorman — Correspondent
- Lawrence Grobel — Poet
- Lourine White — Poet
- Marcel Braitstein — Artist
- Mary Graham Lund — Essayist
- Mary Sirchuk — Poet
- Milton VanSickle — Essayist
- Paul Celan — Poet
- Pietro Cimatti — Poet
- Rainer Maria Rilke — Poet
- Robert Kroetsch — Poet
- Ronald A. Ham — Poet
- Roy Basler — Contributor
- Russell Salamon — Poet
- S. A. Osterlund — Poet
- Sam Bluefarb — Correspondent
- Solomont — Reviewer
- Stan Vanderbeek — Contributor
- Stuart Friebert — Poet
- Theodore Kitaif — Essayist
- William Abbott — Poet
- William E. Taylor — Essayist
Publication details
Full contents
- No Brake Signals — James Boyer May [Essay, p. 5]
- Neoteric Verbalizings Run On — James Boyer May [Contribution, p. 5]
- Bierce to Miller [Contribution, p. 7]
- The New Poetics or Who Shot Tennyson’s Eagle? — William E. Taylor [Contribution, p. 16]
- Wild Western Again — John Tagliabue [Poem, p. 24]
- Editors (and others) Write [Correspondence, p. 25]
- Another Advocate of Revolt — Sam Bluefarb [Correspondence, p. 27]
- A Bohemian Recants — JeanneS. Bagby [Correspondence, p. 29]
- New Friends of the Fourteenth Amendment — Ellen Field [Correspondence, p. 31]
- ‘ Gems ‘ Out of Hat in Padded Drunk Cell? — Katherine Gorman [Correspondence, p. 31]
- A Lermontov Reader [Contribution, p. 34]
- Rebellion for Humanity’s Sake — Mary Graham Lund [Essay, p. 38]
- The Androgynous Poet — David Lee Pagari [Essay, p. 43]
- Sophistic Sorcery — Theodore Kitaif [Essay, p. 48]
- Of Things Past [Contribution, p. 51]
- Rilke’s Eleventh Dream [Contribution, p. 52]
- The Eleventh Dream — Rainer Maria Rilke [Poem, p. 53]
- An Arrangement of Translations (from the Greek and the Latin) [Contribution, p. 54]
- Exile’s Song [Contribution, p. 58]
- Iii Opinions [Contribution, p. 60]
- 2 [Contribution, p. 61]
- 3 [Contribution, p. 62]
- At Night Above All — Guy Rene Cadou [Poem, p. 65]
- Automobile Accident at Brush Creek and Paseo: A Transvaluation of Death [Contribution, p. 77]
- The Opening Room — A. Fredric Franklyn [Poem, p. 82]
- The Messenger — Ed Bullins [Poem, p. 86]
- (from a novel in progress: Absurd) [Contribution, p. 86]
- Ed Bullins [Contribution, p. 89]
- — before the sun sets — — William Abbott [Poem, p. 91]
- The Dangers of Electricity — Christopher Perret [Contribution, p. 96]
- Schizophrenia on Madison Ave — Charles J. Shagoury [Contribution, p. 99]
- The Poet’s Wife — Joyce Odam [Contribution, p. 101]
- An Underground Cinema Primer (part 1) — Carl Linder [Essay, p. 102]
- O. W. Crane: Romantic Protester? — Carl Larsen [Review, p. 106]
- Relativity Problem [Contribution, p. 112]
- Solved [Contribution, p. 112]
- The Chronicle [Reference, p. 113]
- Graphics [Contribution, p. 114]
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. 57 (Summer 1965). Text/Tech Journals reader’s edition, 2026.