Brian Lynch :: Endsville

NO DIE CAST
by
Brian Lynch

New Writers Press
1969

NO DIE CAST

My second book, also from the New Writers' Press
Out of print.
This book, comprising seven poems, was never issued to the public. Its history is also somewhat peculiar. One day in 1969, while I was living in Barcelona, teaching English as a foreign language, 'No Die Cast' arrived in the post, completely unheralded. My memory is vague, but I can only assume that, following the publication of 'Endsville' in 1967 by the New Writers Press (see note below) I must have sent these seven pieces (and perhaps others) to Michael Smith.

As a surprise gift - at the time very welcome I must say - Michael had set them by hand (in 12 point Bodoni) and hand-printed the result on Alabaster Wove paper. The punning title is also his - there was no die cast. His note at the end of the book says 'Seventy five copies only have been printed', buthe told me subsequently that the setting was so laborious nowhere near that number were bound and that the sheets were stored in his attic - for all I know they may still be there. In fact it's possible that my copy is the only one in existence.

Two of the pieces, 'Clap-Hands' and 'Another Morning Poem', have appeared in other collections, most recently, and greatly revised, in 'New and Renewed - Poems 1967-2004'.

BRIAN LYNCH

NO DIE CAST