Comments on: Floating Bear

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:28:41 +0000

Hi Jed! Thank you for all of your work on “The Floating Bear” issues. You have found really fantastic things about it. I was wondering if you might be able to talk about issue 9, above? I’ve been looking for annotated issues of FB and was fascinated to see that the controversial issue appears to be signed by Ginsberg and Burroughs in the 90’s. Do you happen to know who wrote the marginalia that’s across “System?” Also, am I right in thinking it says “All the better for a / sojourn in Hell / All hope at least / pretend to give up / watering(?) your clover ?”

By: jed

jed — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 10:58:01 +0000

I am confident that there was no monetary payment. In Recollections of My Life as a Woman, page 251-254 describes how the Bear was put together and operated and there is no mention of paying contributors. In the Mimeo Revolution, payment was unsually courtesy copies of the magazine. This practice continues today.

Also exposure is a tricky word. It suggests, along with questions of payment, that Floating Bear was promoting its contributors for the literary market. That is not the case at all. Floating Bear was designed as a newsletter to keep a small literary community up to date on what was happening in the community and what work was being done. Thus making is available for comment, response and discussion. It was like the product of an artists’ workshop or discussion group.

By: bigcrux

bigcrux — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 22:59:31 +0000

As hard up for cash as the BEAR appeared to be (constant pleas for postage money, etc), do we suppose Diane and LeRoi paid for submissions? Or was everything provided just for the exposure?

By: jed

jed — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:06:58 +0000

The TISH stamp is on TISH magazine up to and including No. 40, long after Davey left the magazine. The last five issues have no stamp.

By: jed

jed — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:50:42 +0000

I think you are right about Davey. If you look at the Floating Bear Archive all the Frank Davey issues have TISH stamps. The early issues of TISH have the stamp as well, check out TISH on abebooks. My guess is that the TISH stamp on actual TISH magazines stops when Davey leaves as Editor beginning with issue 20. I will test that theory today as I now have a complete run of TISH. I know for a fact that the late issues (41-45) do not have the TISH stamp. So that Nomad, as you thought earlier, may have been owned by Frank Davey.

By: bigcrux

bigcrux — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:46:43 +0000

I am obsessed with this TISH stamp. I guess TISH was printed with NO title and then the stamp was applied afterwards? And then the stamp was applied to anything that was handy? Are there copies out there with no TISH-stamped title?

By: bigcrux

bigcrux — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 23:54:12 +0000

i just picked up Nomad no. 9 and it has the TISH stamp across it.

By: jed

jed — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:02:50 +0000

I do not have an official answer on this but I have some TISH mags that have the same stamp on them as well. Territorial pissings of a sort.

By: bigcrux

bigcrux — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:14:29 +0000

So what’s the story behind the TISH stamp appearing on things? Did Frank Davey stamp everything he owned to spread the word?