Igitur by Stéphane Mallarmé (1974, Pegacycle Lady) — Jack Hirschman Translation, Cover by Wallace Berman

Description

The first English rendering of Stéphane Mallarmé’s Igitur, translated by the legendary Jack Hirschman and published by Los Angeles’s Press of the Pegacycle Lady in 1974. One of only 500 copies issued, this is copy number 181. The real highlight for collectors of postwar West Coast art and poetry is the haunting cover image—designed by Wallace Berman, the reclusive beat mystic of Semina fame. The cover alone places this book squarely in the lineage of Ferus Gallery-era experimentation and Southern California avant-garde.

Berman’s blurred, effaced photographic image paired with Hirschman’s lyrical yet uncompromising translation of Mallarmé’s proto-symbolist prose poem creates a dreamlike and disorienting atmosphere—a perfect match for Mallarmé’s opaque metaphysics. Tough to find and rarely offered, this edition bridges French decadence and California esoterica in a way that feels like a secret passed from hand to hand.

An uncommon and potent fusion of French literary symbolism and West Coast visual rebellion—ideal for collectors of Hirschman, Berman, or Mallarmé.