1970 BOB DYLAN. Bootlegged Pre-Publication Edition of Tarantula - For Woodstock Nation

Bob Dylan's Tarantula was an experimental prose poetry collection, written in 1965 and 1966, then widely bootlegged and partially published by various underground magazines in the late 60's and in 1970 until its official publication in 1971. 

It employs stream of consciousness writing, somewhat in the style of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. One section of the book parodies Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter's song Black Betty. Reviews of the book liken it to Dylan's self-penned liner notes for two albums produced in the same period, Bringing it All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited.  When it was finally issued, it was largely scorned by critics. 

Dylan would later cite Tarantula as a book he had never fully signed up to write: "Things were running wild at that point. It never was my intention to write a book." He went on to equate the book to John Lennon's nonsensical work In His Own Write, and implied that his former manager Albert Grossman signed up Dylan to write the novel without the singer's full consent. Although it was to be edited by Dylan and published in 1966, his motorcycle accident in July '66 prevented this.

Dylan, Bob. Tarantula. Wimp Press [Bootleg], Hibbing Minnesota. 1970. 54pp. 

Noted on the cover, Author's royalties for the sale of this book are being donated to the Caladan Free School. Publisher's profit will contribute to the furtherance of Woodstock Nation. There is no evidence such "contributions" ever materialized.

A good, complete copy. As called for in the history, the staples [only two of three present] just barely penetrate the entire text. This accounts for their penchant for showing up incomplete. A few turned corners and some handling on cover as shown. Else, quite a good and complete example. 

An inferior copy to this, precisely the same edition, sold at PBA Galleries Auction for $660.00.