* (restored)

Little Caesar Press (1976 – 1982)
Editor/publisher/designer/typesetter/distributor: Dennis Cooper
3373 Overland Avenue, #2
Los Angeles, California 90034
‘Dennis Cooper started Little Caesar Magazine in 1976 as a literary journal with an anarchist, punk rock spirit. From its humble beginnings as a skinny, low-tech zine dominated by poetry, it grew into a book sized magazine featuring poetry, fiction, portfolios of art and photography, essays, special theme issues, and interviews with a wide range of writers, artists, and pop culture figures (ranging from teen idol Leif Garrett to musicians like Johnny Rotten and Gram Parsons to porn director Toby Ross, to name but a few).
‘In 1978, Cooper started Little Caesar Press, which wound up publishing 24 books of poetry and fiction by young and established contemporary authors (Joe Brainard, Amy Gerstler, Eileen Myles, Peter Schjeldahl, Elaine Equi, Ronald Koertge, Gerard Malanga, Tom Clark, et. al.), as well as the first and only English language translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s final work, “Travels in Abyssinia”.
‘By the time the magazine ceased production after twelve issues in 1982, its contributors included such people as Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, Nico, Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, and many others.
‘These days, issues of Little Caesar are highly sought after and have sold on the collector’s market for as much $800.’ — DC.net
Books

Dennis Cooper TIGER BEAT (1978)
poetry
Limited signed edition w/ art insert: 15 copies
1st edition: 500 copies
2nd edition: 350 copies
3rd edition: 500 copies

Gerard Malanga 100 YEARS HAVE PASSED (1978)
Cover photograph by the author
prose poems
Edition: 800 copies

Arthur Rimbaud TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA AND THE HARAR (1979)
Translated by Scott Bell
previously unpublished non-fiction
1st edition: 1000 copies
2nd edition: 1500 copies

Tim Dlugos JE SUIS EIN AMERICANO (1979)
Cover photograph by Richard Elovich
poetry
Edition: 800 copies

Ron Koertge SEX OBJECT (1979)
poetry
Edition: 800

Oswell Blakeston JOURNEYS END IN YOUNG MAN’S MEETING (1979)
Cover photograph by Peter Warfield
prose poems
Editions: 800 copies

Dennis Cooper, editor COMING ATTRACTIONS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN POETS IN THEIR TWENTIES (1980)
Cover art by Duncan Hannah
featuring Charles Baxter, Donald Britton, Peter Cashorali, Kevin Jeffery Clarke, Joel Colten, Dennis Cooper, Tim Dlugos, Elaine Equi, Cheri Fein, Bob Flanagan, Brad Gooch, Steven Hall, Steve Hamilton, Wayne McNeill, Eileen Myles, Anne Pitrone, Jerome Sala, Jack Skelley, Stephen Spera, David Trinidad, Diane Ward, Bernard Welt
Edition: 1000 copies

Elaine Equi SHREWCRAZY (1981)
Drawings by Steven F. Giese
poetry
Edition: 800 copies

Joe Brainard NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT (1981)
Cover art by the author
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

Donald Britton ITALY (1981)
Cover art by Trevor Winkfield
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

Kirby Congdon FANTOCCINI: A LITTLE BOOK OF MEMORIES (1981)
Cover photograph by Nita Bernstein
prose poems
Edition: 1000 copies

Peter Schjeldahl THE BRUTE (1981)
Cover and drawings by Susan Rothenberg
poetry
1st edition: 1000 copies
2nd edition: 800 copies

Tim Dlugos ENTRE NOUS (1982)
Cover photograph by Rudy Burckhardt
poetry
1st edition: 1000 copies
2nd edition: 800 copies

Amy Gerstler YONDER (1982)
Cover photographs by Judith Spiegel
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

Ron Koertge DIARY COWS (1982)
Cover art by Bill Womack
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

James Krusoe JUNGLE GIRL (1982)
Cover art by Henri Rousseau
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

Michael Lally HOLLYWOOD MAGIC (1982)
Cover photograph by Lynn Goldsmith
poetry and prose poems
Edition: 1000 copies

Lewis MacAdams AFRICA AND THE MARRIAGE OF WALT WHITMAN AND MARILYN MONROE (1982)
Cover art and fold-out poster by Henk Elenga
poetry & prose poems
Edition: 1000 copies

Eileen Myles SAPPHOS BOAT (1982)
Cover art by the author
poetry
Edition: 1000 copies

Jack Skelley MONSTERS (1982)
Cover designed by Stephen Spera and Sheree Rose
poetry and prose poems
Edition: 1000 copies
Planned but never published
Steven Hall NEW AND IMPROVED (1983)
Cover photography and design by Sheree Levine
poetry
Brad Gooch JAILBAIT AND OTHER STORIES (1983)
Cover photography by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
stories
Anne Pitrone THE POVERTY JOURNAL (1983)
Cover art by the author
fiction
Little Caesar Press Catalog (1982)
Cover art and design by Henk Elenga
Edition: 1500 copies















*
p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Me too. I haven’t been drunk in, god, decades now. Moorhens … so, hens or hen-like creatures who tend to hang around in the Moors? My only association with the word coot is that people in the US used to refer to aged adults as ‘old coots’, which I assume must be derived from that bird? ** scunnard, I’m sober as a church, although are churches truly sober? Excellent about the first pup and tiger book! How’s that project going in general? Things are good here. Mostly trying to be patient while going through the earliest phases and processes of making the new film. Good but antsy. ** malcolm, Hey, malcolm! Wow, has it been two years? Time is so odd. Great to see you. I just looked up that Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg piece. Super nice. I definitely would have included it if my searches had made it pop. I remember you, of course. You’re highly memorable. Is it possible to see your recent work anywhere? It’d be cool to catch up. Thanks! ** Dominik, Hi!!! No big producer news, but everything seems to be on course so far. Take the rest, pal. If you feel like you need it, you do. No? Love trying to remember the last he was drunk unsuccessfully but making an educated guess that it was caused by the imbibing of more than one screwdriver, G. ** Sarah Palmer, Hi, Sarah. The screenings went very well, thanks. In our limited time, we did manage to see some art. A rather overly demurely installed but otherwise great show by Pope.L. Solid gallery shows by Cindy Sherman and Lorna Simpson. Okay show by Colin Self. Bad show by Martine Syms. A quite amazing retrospective of Robert Ryman at the Barbican. Really something. And the V&A have opened their storage building to the public, and that was unexpectedly really fascinating and beautifully installed. So not bad all in all. France does seem like it’s kind of behind the times on the gender parity issue. I wonder why. And on the lack of prevalence of smaller presses getting their due too. Hm. I’ll look up the Adriaen van Ostade piece you mentioned, thank you. I still have so much catching up to do on the Paris culture front, but it is exciting to know it’s out there. I hope your day is dressed up like 70s era Vivienne Westwood. ** Carsten, Thanks. It’s true how filmic experiments were at the center of all film way back then. Why people stopped thinking of film as a wild frontier is beyond me. See, you’re starting to like the fiddling. It’s addictive. But a truly pleasurable addiction. ** worm, Hi. Nervousness is a beautiful state, or at least from the outside, I guess. Yes, I will write to you today. And make it possible for you to see our film therein. Yeah, the huge flight, the cost, the jet lag … it’s a hell of a commitment. But it’s a goal. I don’t know Tongue Dissolver or Craning, but I’ll enlighten myself, thank you. Art school, nice. And you’re a writer even better. A lot of writers I most like went to art school. A zine sounds like a good starter for the writing, etc. As you can see above, I kind of started with a little literary press plus a literary magazine that isn’t covered up there. A fine comment, sir. I hope you got rewarded with good sleep. xo. ** Nicholas., Hey. Oh, wow, I was right? Back pat. ‘I will persist who even cares if anything knows’: words to live by. I’m right there. xoxo back. ** laura w., New Years is my least favorite holiday, but I don’t get plastered, and I hate parties, and I like getting good sleep. I’m very much a puzzle game guy, so, yeah. I like all the Zelda games, but I did spend much more time with the earlier ones. I recommend ‘Wind Waker’ too. My New Band Believe is going places. I want to have a coffee with that guy. He invited me to their Paris show on Instagram, but I didn’t see it until three days too late. Fuck. ** Jeff J, Thanks, man. I haven’t seen any sign of Zac German in a long time, so I don’t know. He put out a chapbook some years ago that was really good, but nothing since that I’ve seen. He doesn’t seem to be very active on social media. No, I don’t know Charles Bowden’s work. I’ll look into it, obviously, thanks. And, hey, you’ll be kind of ruling the roost here tomorrow and thank you again. ** HaRpEr //, I was never much of a drinker, and I certainly didn’t write while drinking. I tried on drugs, but it was mostly garbage. Clear-headedness is the key. For me too. Writing is plenty of inebriance. I wonder if my favorite writers were/are drunks. I don’t even know. Yeah, Steven’s big moment right now with the Nirosta Steel thing is amazing. Like I said, I hung out with him yesterday, and he’s kind of in shock about it. ** Steve Erickson, I don’t know The Hat Man thing. I’ll investigate. Could be a post indeed. Shit, the antibiotics weren’t magic. Maybe the wrong type? Are antibiotics like meds in that sense? We’re finalising the film’s budget, which I think we did last night, and now our producer will approach investors. I think we’ll only talk with them if they’re interested but want to know more specifics. ** Thom, Hi. Yeah, Steven’s a great guy. As I may have said, I was going to publish a book of poems of his in the early 80s — evidence above — but the plug got pulled on my press before that happened. He’s totally blown away and in a perpetual state of surprise about what’s happening with his music. It’s so nice, especially after he was basically just Arthur Russell’s right-hand man as far as anyone knew for such a long time. Yeah, I’ve been openly gay/queer since I was very young, but that part of my identity has never been all that important to me about myself or my work. It’s just there, doing wherever it does. I’ve never been someone who only feels comfortable around other queer people. I don’t understand that exclusionary tendency. It just doesn’t fit with me. Anyway, in agreement with you, in so many words. It was interesting, though, at Steven’s gig, the audience was your basic Pitchfork rocker crowd, and they seemed to know all of his songs. I think his record is really reaching all kinds of people. It’s very interesting. Yeah, I do do that in ‘Guide’, probably influenced in some way by Kristof. I love ‘Conker’. One of the best, most innovative games ever. Oh, great thanks for the link to the interview. I’ll go over and read it when I’m post-p.s. Everyone, Thom, who also makes things under the moniker Trees and Flowers, is interviewed with his cohort Fisher Thing about their new EP over at The Third Eye. You can read it and also listen to the EP itself here. Majorly recommended. ** Corey, Hi, Corey, good to see you! Thanks for the add. I’m good, just doing the film stuff mostly as per usual. Wow, about opening the theater, and, yeah, I can only imagine the complications. Great idea, obviously. I hope your co-host’s transgression was a fly by. And, yes, pursue your own stuff, especially if people are waiting. Exploit that! And take care down there. ** Okay. I was asked recently to restore this post up there about the small press I ran in the late 70s and early 80s, so I did. I also did 12 issues of Little Caesar Magazine too, but they’re not in the post because I don’t have the evidence on hand. Anyway, see if it’s interesting. See you tomorrow,














































Now available in North America