Author(s): Jim Morrison; Tom Robbins (Foreword by)

ROCK N' POP

The definitive anthology of Jim Morrison's writings with rare photographs and numerous handwritten excerpts of unpublished and published poetry and lyrics from his 28 privately held notebooks.

Created in collaboration with Jim Morrison’s estate and inspired by a posthumously discovered list entitled “Plan for Book,” The Collected Works of Jim Morrison is an almost 600-page anthology of the writings of the late poet and iconic Doors’ front man. This landmark publication is the definitive opus of Morrison’s creative output and the book he intended to publish. Throughout, a compelling mix of 160 visual components accompanies the text: excerpts from his 28 privately held notebooks all written in his own hand and published here for the first time as well as an array of personal images and commentary on the work by Morrison himself.

This oversized, beautifully produced collectible volume contains a wealth of new material poetry, writings, lyrics, and audio transcripts of Morrison reading his work. Not only the most comprehensive book of Morrison’s work ever published, it is immersive, giving readers insight to the creative process of and offering access to the musings and observations of an artist whom the poet Michael McClure called “one of the finest, clearest spirits of our times.”

Created in collaboration with the estate of Jim Morrison and inspired by a posthumously discovered list written by Morrison entitled “Plan for Book,” The Collected Works of Jim Morrison is a landmark publication featuring both published and unpublished poems, prose, and lyrics and more than 200 personal color and black-and-white photographs, drawings, journal excerpts, notes and lyrics in his own hand; plus a bound-in 16-page facsimile pamphlet of one of Morrison's self-published poems and a transcript of a poetry reading recorded on what would be his final birthday. “Morrison wrote that 'we had a great visitation of energy,' proclaimed that 'the ancient ones' time has come again,' urged readers to 'enter again the sweet forest/enter the hot dream.' While he deliberately drove down toad-squirmy backroads of primal terror, ecstasy was often naked in the shotgun seat, spinning jeweled pinwheels, peeling a peach.”—Tom Robbins, from his foreword, “Fireflies of the Apocalypse". Jim Morrison was thrust into what he considered accidental stardom in the 1960s as the lead vocalist of The Doors. Fifty years after his passing his legend endures, inspiring legions of fans and musicians. But this electrifying performer who lit the world on fire considered himself foremost a writer, a talent brilliantly demonstrated in his vast output of poetry and song lyrics. The Collected Works of Jim Morrison is the book Jim Morrison wanted to publish. This definitive opus of his creative output—designed by the renowned firm Pentagram—includes verse and prose poems; never-before-seen personal journal entries written in Morrison's own hand, drawings, unpublished work, revisions of previously published poetry, transcripts, published and unpublished song lyrics, and more. Accompanying them is the transcript of The Village Recorder tapes—the selection of poems Morrison recorded on his birthday on December 8, 1970. This remarkable collector’s item includes: Foreword by Tom Robbins, Introduction by Anne Morrison Chewning, Published Poems and Writings: Pony Express; Horse Latitudes; Eyes; The Anatomy of Rock; The Celebration of the Lizard; Dry WaterSelf-Published Poems and Writings: The New Creatures; The Lords: Notes on Vision; An American Prayer; Ode to LA While Thinking of Brian Jones, Deceased Selections from Notebooks, Journals, and Loose Pages: The American Night; Tape Noon; Miami Trial Notebooks; the Paris Journal; Notebook and Journal Poems; Loose Page Poems, Poetry Recording Transcripts: The Elektra Tapes; The Village Recorder, TapesFilm, Treatment: The Hitchhiker Published and Unpublished Song Lyrics, Epilogue: As I Look Back An array of images from the Morrison archive—family photographs; candid pictures in the recording studio, on the road, both on stage and off; sketches and drawings; stills from Morrison's never-released film HWY. Handwritten materials—excerpts from the numerous journals Morrison kept, including the notebook he wrote in while on trial in Miami and from his final days in Paris, as well as various excerpts, single pages, loose notes, and lyrics.