My post on The Anti-Orpheus (Pages: Robert Sheppard The Anti-Orpheus (pdf available online) got me thinking about how much of my work was currently available and how much wasn’t. I’ve concluded that a surprisingly large amount of it is, in a way that would have surprised earlier authors – earlier than the advent of Print On Demand technologies about 25 years ago, I mean. It was part of the life-cycle of a book to go out of print – and for the secondhand market to come into play. Add to that that I have a number of copies of officially o/p books stacked away, thus making them ‘available’, means that the number of books and pamphlets bearing my name that you might get hold of is quite large. Some texts (like The Anti-Orpheus) are available online (both officially and unofficially, of course), but I intend to not dignify the latter sources in this listing. And some books, of course, have been digitalized (or were in an electronic form anyway, as pdfs (like The Anti-Orpheus)).
Let’s examine the books. I am going to go through
them and demonstrate whether they remain in print, or have been absorbed into
other in-print books. As I go I expect to surprise myself, but it might be
useful for anybody who wants to catch up with these. I’ve taken the list from
my website, where there is a full list of my publications: Full
Bibliography - Robert Sheppard (weebly.com)
Full Length Poetry and Creative Prose Collections (including a few pamphlets)
Daylight Robbery, Exeter: Stride, 1990: o/p but some of its contents are available in History or Sleep (see below).
The Flashlight Sonata, Exeter: Stride, 1993: o/p but this book is reproduced entire in Complete Twentieth Century Blues (see below). However, I still have some copies of this book (which I’ve always rather loved).
Empty Diaries, Exeter: Stride, 1998: o/p but this book is reproduced entire in Complete Twentieth Century Blues and in part in History or Sleep (also below). However, I have some copies of this book left.
The Lores, London: Reality Street, 2003: o/p but this book is reproduced entire in Complete Twentieth Century Blues (see below)
Tin Pan Arcadia, Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2004: o/p: but this book is reproduced entire in Complete Twentieth Century Blues (see below)
The Anti-Orpheus: Exeter: Shearsman Books, 2005: pdf online: see Pages: Robert Sheppard The Anti-Orpheus (pdf available online .
Hymns to the God in which my Typewriter Believes, Exeter: Stride, 2006: o/p.
Risk Assessment (with Rupert Loydell), no location: Damaged Goods, 2006: o/p but I have a large number of these left.
Complete Twentieth Century Blues, Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2008: STILL IN PRINT here: Complete Twentieth Century Blues, Robert Sheppard - Salt (saltpublishing.com). It collects many of the books above. (And I write about it here: Pages: Twentieth Century Blues published ten years ago! (robertsheppard.blogspot.com) )
Warrant Error, Exeter: Shearsman Books, 2009: STILL IN PRINT here: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
Berlin Bursts, Exeter: Shearsman Books, 2011: STILL IN PRINT here: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
A Translated Man, Exeter: Shearsman Books, 2013: STILL IN PRINT here: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
Words Out of Time, Newton-le-Willows: Knives, Forks and Spoons, 2015: STILL IN PRINT here: 'Words Out of Time' by Robert Sheppard (108 pages) | Knives Forks and Spo (knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk)
History or Sleep: Selected Poems, Bristol: Shearsman Books, 2015: STILL IN PRINT here: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com). It also selects from all the books listed above (apart from Risk Assessment).
Unfinish, London: Veer Publications, 2016: STILL IN PRINT here: Robert Sheppard - Unfinish - Veer Books
The Drop, Hunstanton: Oystercatcher Press, 2016: STILL IN PRINT here: Robert Sheppard : The Drop - Oystercatcher Press
Twitters for a Lark: Poetry of the European Union of Imaginary Authors (with Others), Bristol: Shearsman Books, 2017: STILL IN PRINT: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
Micro Event Space, New Mills, Red Ceilings Press, 2019: STILL IN PRINT: Micro Event Space - Robert Sheppard | Red Ceilings Press (theredceilingspress.co.uk)
Charms and Glitter (with Trev Eales), Newton-le-Willows: Knives Forks and Spoons, 2020: WITHDRAWN! The sorry story surrounding this magnificent colour photo/poetry book may be read here: Pages: Whatever happened to the book Charms and Glitter? (robertsheppard.blogspot.com)
The English Strain, Swindon: Shearsman Books, 2021: STILL IN PRINT: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
Bad Idea, Newton-le-Willows: Knives Forks and Spoons, 2021: STILL IN PRINT: 'Bad Idea' by Robert Sheppard (102 pages) | Knives Forks and Spo (knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk)
Collaborations
(with Bob Cobbing): Odes and
Diodes and Blatent Blather/Virulent Whoops, Veer Publications, 2021:
STILL IN PRINT (pictured below): Bob
Cobbing - Robert Sheppard - Collaborations - Veer Books
Doubly Stolen Fire , Aquifer Books, Flangattock: 2023: Pages: Launch of Doubly Stolen Fire at the Lowry Lounge 2023, Liverpool (set list) (robertsheppard.blogspot.com)
Short Fiction Collection
The Only Life, Newton-le-Willows: Knives Forks and Spoons, 2011: STILL IN PRINT: 'The
Only Life' by Robert Sheppard (41 pages) | Knives Forks and Spo
(knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk) Three short stories about writers.
Critical Books
Far Language: Poetics and Linguistically Innovative Poetry 1978-1997, Exeter: Stride Research Documents, 1999; second printing 2002 : o/p, But I have many copies left, so email me. (The whole book also appears on this blog, beginning here: Pages: Robert Sheppard: Far Language: Poetics and Linguistically Innovative Poetry 1978-1997: New Introduction and links to chapters)
The Poetry of Saying: British Poetry and its Discontents 1950-2000, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2005, print o/p, but there are various online versions and second hand copies of the print version. Its introduction appears here: Pages: Robert Sheppard: The Poetry of Saying: Technique: The Poetics of Form
Iain Sinclair, Writers and Their Work, Plymouth: Northcote House, 2007 (distributed by Liverpool University Press: STILL IN PRINT and in digital form: ‘A unique insight into the history of British literary criticism’, Writers and Their Work now available as a digital collection | Liverpool University Press Blog.
When Bad Times Made for Good Poetry, Exeter: Shearsman, 2011: STILL IN PRINT: Sheppard, Robert (shearsman.com)
The Meaning of Form in Contemporary Innovative
Poetry, New York: Palgrave, 2016: STILL
IN PRINT and available online. I write about it here: Pages:
Robert Sheppard: The Meaning of Form in Contemporary Innovative Poetry
PUBLISHED. I also have a navigable pdf of the whole book which I can send easily. Contact me by email.
Edited
Books
Floating Capital: New Poets from London, with Adrian Clarke, Elmwood, Connecticut: Potes and Poets, 1991: o/p.
News for the Ear: a homage to Roy Fisher, with Peter Robinson, Exeter: Stride 2000: o/p though I have a few copies left.
Salt Companion to Lee Harwood, Cambridge Salt: 2007: o/p. This out-of-printness hurts!
The Door at Taldir: The Selected Poems of Paul Evans, Exeter: Shearsman, 2009: STILL IN PRINT: Shearsman Books buy Paul Evans - The Door of Taldir — Selected Poems
Atlantic Drift: Poetry and Poetics, with James Byrne, Arc/EHUP, 2017: STILL IN PRINT: Arc Publications - Books
New Collected Poems: Lee Harwood, with Kelvin Corcoran, Shearsman, 2023: JUST GONE INTO PRINT: Lee Harwood - New Collected Poems (shearsman.com)
For Me/On Me
An Educated Desire edited by Scott Thurston, KFS, STILL IN PRINT:
The Robert Sheppard Companion edited by Christopher Madden and James Byrne, STILL IN PRINT: James Byrne & Christopher Madden (eds.) - The Robert Sheppard Companion (shearsman.com).
So there you have it. A lot of books are still in print, others are available in newer formats, for sale second-hand, and a few I have copies of. Email me for information.
It's clear also that Complete Twentieth Century Blues operates as a kind of 'Collected Poems', or a first volume of a pair, maybe.
I thought I might go through the same process for pamphlets, but they feel too numerous (see my full bibliography - link above - or the summary form: Publications - Robert Sheppard (weebly.com)). So I have smuggled a few pamphlets that are still available into the listings above for good measure. I’ll leave the rest to fate; most are o/p, though some Ship of Fools pamphlets are around in very small numbers. (See here for an account and images of Ship of Fools: Pages: Ship of Fools press Exhibition Edge Hill 2017: Hub post (links) and Introduction (robertsheppard.blogspot.com)).
Locating
Robert Sheppard: email: robertsheppard39@gmail.com website: www.robertsheppard.weebly.com Follow on
Twitter: Robert Sheppard (@microbius) / Twitter latest blogpost: www.robertsheppard.blogspot.com
