Where's all John Montague's poetry gone?!

Eliot Rosewater

I was at a poetry reading by John Montague last night, and spurred on by the event I decided to buy a collection of his poetry. But then I came upon an unfortunate fact - such a collection can't be found!

I first searched Amazon.co.uk. The results were all either prose books or out of print books priced ridiculously high by third party sellers.

A search of Book Depository proved equally fruitless (though it did return an intriguing Hamsters for Dummies book!)

I then did the most shocking thing I've done recently - I cycled into the city with the intention of actually purchasing a book from a high street book store (*gasp*). I checked Waterstones and Vibes & Scribes but this search was, once again, totally fruitless.

So what's the story here? Montague is supposed to be a major poet yet I can't even buy any of his poems! Has the invisible hand of the free market finally failed us?!


(In other news, I can safety confirm to the Literature forum that there is, in fact, no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Cycling back home I happened to chance upon a field where a rainbow ended, but no gold was to be found. Damn lying leprechauns! I bet it's them that's taken all the Montague books...)

Earthhorse

You can buy a used copy much cheaper from Amazon.com though the shipping costs may make it come to the same price. The fact is most poetry books do not get large print runs so if you don't buy it during its initial run you're unlikely to find a copy later and second hand sellers can thus charge what they like.

Plowman

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Eliot Rosewater

Yup!

I take the point about poetry print runs being small, but in fairness I'm not thinking about obscure poets, so I thought they'd print again after a while.

I've also been looking for a book of Derek Mahon's poetry. I found a Penguin Collected Poems collection (published 2006) that used to retail for £8.99. The cheapest used edition is £20; the cheapest new edition is £170! Surely there is demand?

I'll probably send a letter of pleading to Penguin.

Earthhorse

Even the best poets will get pretty limited print runs. They do reprints, of course, but again these are often very small.

I doubt there is much demand for poetry books, if there were publishers would happily meet it. It's just unfortunate that some people are willing to exploit the discernment of the demand that's out there.

Permabear

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lawman24

No disrespect but is he still alive????

Let me google that - 81 years old, fair dues to him for still doing readings - was he good?

Eliot Rosewater

donegalfella wrote: »

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Another $12; €23 total. So I could either get a collection of Montague's poetry, or a Larkin collection plus two other books.

lawman24 wrote: »

Let me google that - 81 years old, fair dues to him for still doing readings - was he good?

Yes, it was a very nice evening. Even though he's so old he has two books planned, I think, and another being published this year. His speech stumbled once or twice, but nothing too noticeable. No signs of old age otherwise. He's a lovely smile!

Perhaps an active mind is the key to longevity.

metrovelvet

Why dont you call the events office which organised the reading and ask them for his email address and ask him if you could buy a copy from him? And ask doe an autograph. Im sure he has stacks of them and would be glad to make a few bob instead of sending the profits to the retailer and publisher.

sron

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Another $12; €23 total. So I could either get a collection of Montague's poetry, or a Larkin collection plus two other books.



Yes, it was a very nice evening. Even though he's so old he has two books planned, I think, and another being published this year. His speech stumbled once or twice, but nothing too noticeable. No signs of old age otherwise. He's a lovely smile!

Perhaps an active mind is the key to longevity.

If you live in Dublin, try the Secret Bookshop. I'm fairly sure I saw a copy there earlier today. It should be nice and cheap, too.

OldBloke

A lot of his books get snapped up by collectors and booksellers and sold on to other collectors the moment they come out.

beehive

Distribution of poetry and other small press title can be a tricky matter in a commercially-driven world.

Even so, some poetry publishers seem to be more proactive than others when it comes to making and keeping their books visible.

I note, for instance, that titles by the Dedalus Press (one of whose launches I attended earlier this week -- the excellent anthology Voices at the World's Edge: Irish Poets on Skellig Michael) are widely available online, through the usual retailers like Amazon, Eason, etc, as well as through the website of the press itself, www.dedaluspress.com. I also see their books well represented in bookshops throughout Ireland, and can find them easily through Central Books and Inpress distributors in the UK and through Syracuse University Press in the US, among others.

They don't publish John Montague per se, but he does feature in their prose anthology Flowing, Still: Irish Poets on Irish Poetry. They also have an mp3 library of free readings by Irish poets on their website and an occasional podcast, entitled AudioRoom, available on iTunes and elsewhere. Check them out. They publish Theo Dorgan, Thomas Kinsella, Eva Bourke, Gabriel Rosenstock, Maurice Scully, Leland Bardwell and Gerry Murphy as well as many other well-known and up-and-coming Irish poets.