James Schuyler Selected Works

Schuyler's second poetry chapbook, published in 1966.

A limited edition chapbook of 200 copies, printed with The Poetry Project. Poems by both Schuyler and Helena Hughes.

A handmade chapbook of 500 copies consisting of selected prose entries from Schuyler's journals.

The collaborative nature of the New York School is echoed in this work from 1976, which marries Schuyler's text and Claire Van Vliet's artistry. The Fireproof Floors of Witley Court is particularly rare, as it was created for Janus Press subscribers and copies were rarely sold to the public. The book features 12 poems by Schuyler, beginning with a cautionary tale of Samuel Dawkes' so-called fireproof Witley Court, which turned out to be flammable. Other poems examine life in late 19th and early 20th century England. Bright orange paper wraps are embossed with a silver man in the moon, echoed on the rear page. The purple silhouette of Levens Hall, Westmorland, England, a manor home dating from 1350, with a green silhouette of the celebrated topiary gardens established in 1694, are featured on the cut out endpapers. Originally printed in 150 copies.

A collected edition of Schuyler's poems and short prose over two decades, edited by Trevor Winkfield.

Schuyler's earliest poetry book, published in 1960.

An early poetry book by New York School poet James Schuyler, published in 1972.

The search for ways to contain the evanescence, fragility and ephemeral beauty of the moment has preoccupied lyric poets from Catullus and Herrick to James Schuyler. For Schuyler, indeed, discovering and glowing in the ineffable contingency of the moment was both theme and goal. Nowhere in his work is this more true than in that marvelous celebration of the miracle of impermanence, his remarkable Diary, here made available in full for the first time.

The Diary, editor Nathan Kernan has noted, "is a work of art; it is, in a large sense, a poem. Stylistically it is of a piece with Schuyler's poems: it is cut from the same cloth, or is, in places, the cloth from which the poems were cut . . . The Diary's peculiar combination of fragment, meticulous description, literary allusion, commonplace book and remembrance is beautiful in its own right, and very much a window into the mind that wrote the poems."

Nathan Kernan's extremely thoughtful, scrupulous and informed editing provides this long-awaited volume a scholarly care it deserves. Kernan's editorial glosses and biographical sketches on the cast of characters, placing Schuyler in a rich social context of poets, artists and friends, provide what amounts to a handy thumbnail history of the New York School.

Poet Mark Ford has described the letters of James Schuyler as “witty, graceful, sophisticated, and gossipy.” Particularly poignant are these Schuyler letters to fellow poet Frank O’Hara. Entertaining and transcendently poetic, they are the portrait of a friendship between two great New York School poets.

Schuyler's essential collection has at its core a nearly book-length poem in which the elements of letter writing, autobiography, and fable combine to transfigure poet and audience, past and present, and suffering and pleasure. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.