
[] Listen to the excerpt about 1959-60: mp3
[] Listen to the whole discussion: mp3
[] Go to the Bern Porter PennSound author page: link
Bern Porter and Dick Higgins first made contact with one another in 1959. Ray Johnson and Bern had been exchanging items through the Mail Art project, Ray sending collages, Bern altering them somewhat and sending them back. Bern was living in Maine at this point, having come back to the U.S. from Tasmania. Young Dick Higgins, about to go off to printing school, was given by Ray Johnson a brochure by Bern Porter that Bern had sent (something Bern had produced in 1947).
Dick loved the pamphlet and sent Bern some of his manuscripts. Bern loved them and wrote immediately back, inviting Dick to contribute to "Bern Porter Editions."
Dick sent Bern the manuscript of What Are Legends. Bern hand-lettered the book and Dick took it to the printing school, where it was printed with Bern's illustrations. This was in 1960.
