Bibliography Of Bibliographies

The first Henry Miller bibliography was printed by Bern Porter in 1945, called Henry Miller: A Chronology And Bibliography.

The next Henry Miller bibliographies seem to appear in 1961, with the limited publication of Henry Miller, an Informal Bibliography (ed. Esta Lou Riley at Fort Hays Kansas State College); and Bibliography Of Henry Miller (ed. Thomas Moore), published by the Henry Miller Literary Society. In 1962, Maxine Renkin published her own biblio.

In the late 70's, Lawrence Shifreen and Black Sparrow Press were compiling a Miller bibliography, for which Henry corresponded by letter (these letters auctioned by PBA Galleries). This was printed in 1979, as Henry Miller: A Bibliography Of Secondary Sources (supplemented in 1982 in an edition by Richard Centing).

Shifreen was contacted in 1990 by Roger Jackson, who was interested in building on Shifreen's collection. In 1993, Shifreen and Jackson published what is probably the bible of Miller bibliographies, Henry Miller: A Bibliography Of Primary Sources. This 1000 page document provides detailed information about Miller's writings and artwork, and includes a 100-plus glossy insert of photos, graphics, etc.

The next in the bloodline of Miller bibliographers is book and art collector William Ashley. Ashley merged his own huge collection of Miller-related items--and knowledge--with Jackson's and, together, they released an expanded and corrected edition of Primary Sources in 1994. The growing bibliography of this collection--which must be as complete as humanly possible by now--is available to view (in point form only) on-line.

Ashley's collection of Miller books, art, and ephemera, makes up part of the Henry Miller Memorial Library. More on that later.

A tidy one-page list of Miller's major works (by and about him) can be found here.