The erotic cover drawing was done by Al Diamondstein. This book was printed by d.a. levy. In a personal communication from Jeff Maser, 16 (including the Sackner copy) of the 45 copies have been located. According to an essay in Congress No.1, this book was seized by Cleveland Police for obscenity from Asphodel Book Store in 1966. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Illustrations by Michelle Stuart. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

The coverillustration and three in the text were composed by Michelle Stuart. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

In the introduction, Golden writes about levy's "The North American Book of the Dead." He states that "this is not only a major epic spiritual hymn, it is one of, if not the major post-modern shamanistic-poetic vision of America written this century. Read it straight through and levy will take you on a trip through not just the times he lived in, but through all time. He was, first and foremost, a writer of space, yet as visionary as his voice was, to this point he has been recognized primarily as a writer of place.' And that place was Cleveland. Golden also contributed an essay, "Portrait of a Young Man Trying to Eat the Sun." There are eight colored photographic reproductions of levy's collages in this book. The collage reproduced on page 99 is held by the Sackner Archive. In addition, several works from the Sackner Archive are reproduced in this book. This book is stored near the d.a. levy material. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Edited and introduction by Edith Jarolim. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.