'Dear Paul Dear Ned' (1997) By Paul Bowles and Ned Rorem About the book: For more than fifty years, the writer composers Paul Bowles and Ned Rorem have exchanged letters on awide variety of subjects that encompass much of the artistic and literary scene of the post-War period. They originally met while traveling in Mexico in 1941, where Rorem, a music student at Northwestern University, was "bowled over" when Bowles played the music of Aaron Copland for him. Over the next few years, they met infrequently and Bowles moved to Tangier in 1947 and Rorem to Paris in 1949. Their paths crossed again when Rorem moved to Fez in 1950 and it was around this time that their correspondence began in earnest. This was a fertile period in both men's lives; Bowles had completed his widely acclaimed first novel, 'The Sheltering Sky' and Rorem composed the suite 'From an Unknown Past,' among other works. Although the circumstances of their lives kept them apart for long periods, the friends kept in touch regularly on a variety of subjects, including proposed collaborations; the unsettled state of Morocco; the upheavals of the Sixties; a harrowing account of a mescaline experience, as well as references to mutual friends, such as Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Leonard Bernstein. 'Dear Paul Dear Ned' chronicles this friendship in more than one hundred thirty letters, and includes an insightful Foreword by the authors' mutual friend, Gavin Lambert. Four photographs of the correspondents are tipped into the text, which is 141 pages in length. The book was printed on Somerset laid papers and the typeface is Monotype Bembo. Printed by hand on a Vandercook press, the book is 6 1/2" x 10" and is limited to three hundred twenty-six copies bound in blue linen. Elysium Press. Available Editions: First Edition, USA: 'Dear Paul Dear Ned' Elysium Press, North Pomfret, Vermont,1997 Introduction by Gavin Lambert Limited Edition 'Dear Paul Dear Ned' Elysium Press, North Pomfret, Vermont,1997 Introduction by Gavin Lambert Trade Edition Please click here for our article on Ned Rorem Dedicated to the life and work of Paul and Jane Bowles ©International Paul Bowles Society, 2000 a non-profit organisation in England