Lament of the Frontier Guard 1st American edition Ezra Pound

Lament of the Frontier Guard. Text by Rihaku [aka Li Bai]. Translated by Ezra Pound. New York: Bread and Puppet Press, 1967. First American edition. 8vo. Staple-bound mimeographed wrappers. 38 pp. Profusely illlustrated. Very good condition. Loss of back cover tip. Illustrated edition of Ezra Pound's translation of the 8th-century Tang Dynasty poet Rihaku's (aka Li Bak. Li Po) "Lament of the Frontier Guard," with illustrations in the primitive, naive style of Bread and Butter publications drawing parallels with the Vietnam conflict. Rare. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann and his wife Elka in a loft on Delancey Street, the company combined oversized puppets, performance art, and freshly baked bread—literally handing loaves to audiences while staging political puppet theater. Their initial shows tackled local urban issues—rents, rats, police—and involved neighborhood children, teachers, and residents in large-scale outdoor pageantry. Bread & Puppet merged puppetry, communal bread-baking, and agitprop performance to powerfully confront the Vietnam War and local injustices. Their joyful yet radical pageantry on New York’s streets in the late 1960s forged a new model of protest theater—one that mixed art, food, and direct political action.Beginning around 1964, Bread & Puppet became a constant presence in anti-war demonstrations, deploying giant puppets in a style known as guerrilla theater. In 1965 they staged “Fire,” a potent indoor critique of the war, premiered in NYC and later featured at France’s Nancy festival—propelling them into international recognition. Their style blended avant-garde influences (Cage, Cunningham, Fluxus) with folk pageantry and medieval passion play traditions. Operating as frugal, community-based art, they funded themselves via performances and press sales—eschewing corporate or government support. It connects 8th-century Chinese verse, Ezra Pound’s modernist lens, and Peter Schumann’s 1960s anti-war activism. More than a playbill or artistic pamphlet—it served as a portable piece of protest art, easily distributed at demonstrations. As a standalone literary object, it demonstrates Bread & Puppet's innovation—combining poetry, illustration, and political commentary in a small-format press to amplify anti-war sentiment. “Lament of the Frontier Guard” is a compact yet powerful artifact at the intersection of poetic tradition and protest. By translating an ancient lament into the symbolic framework of the Vietnam War, Schumann and Bread & Puppet reinforced their message: across time and culture, war brings the same devastation—and must be challenged. Inv. Bind. Bl