Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems

By any measure, Gary Snyder is one of the greatest poets in America in the last century. From his first book of poems to his latest collection of essays, his work and his example, standing between Tu Fu and Thoreau, have been influential all over the world. Riprap, his first book of poems, was published in Japan in 1959 by Origin Press, and it is the fiftieth anniversary of that groundbreaking book we celebrate with our new edition. A small press reprint of that book included Snyder’s translations of Han Shan’s Cold Mountain Poems, perhaps the finest translations of that remarkable poet into English. For the fiftieth anniversary, we are preparing a completely redesigned edition that will be accompanied by a CD of Snyder reading all the poems in this collection, with introductions and asides. The recording, made in the poet’s home in 2009 by Jack Loeffler, will mark the first time a complete reading has ever been available in a commercial edition. One of the finest collections of poems published in the twentieth century, this edition will please those already familiar with this work and excite a new generation of readers with its profound simplicity and spare elegance.