Autograph letter and inscribed book, constituting a most intriguing and unexpected association between Allen Ginsberg and Tony Bennett and 18th century English poet William Blake. Two items, as follows:

1. A Blake Dictionary, The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake (S. Foster Damon, With a New Index by Morris Eaves). Paperback with ownership signature to front flyleaf and inside front cover, "Allen Ginsberg Naropa 1979" and with a lengthy later presentation inscription below and onto opposite facing page from Ginsberg to legendary crooner Tony Bennett, noting that "I helped get this book reprinted in paperback - but have a big hardcover at home - Barnes & Noble will replace mine when they get one, so you're welcome to this copy - a sort of indexed key to Blake's Terms + symbols - I hope it gives you pleasure & wit -," signed, "Allen Ginsberg." A postscript reads, "I never tried to read / this thru - just used it as a handbook when I wanted to understand a specific verse that used these names - like Urizen, Luvah, etc. ...A.G." 8vo. xii+532 pp. Covers worn, else fine. 
2. Autograph letter from Allen Ginsberg to Tony Bennett dated September 20, 1985, on Naropa Institute letterhead.  2 pp. The letter begins, "Here's a copy of my Blake / record - 1969 - I found it today..." referring to Ginsberg's album Songs of Innocence and Experience that set Blake's work to music. Ginsberg continues explaining that "Charlie Mingus, a neighbor at the time, advised me on some musicians...It was my first time in a studio...let's try to do something together with Blake and other classic lyrics. At least sometime sit down of a Norton Anthology of English poetry & look over what you might like to set to music."

"Alec Wilder set one of William Blake's poems to music for me, and I was reading Blake last night. Imagine being that talented and feeling so much at the same time!" (Tony Bennett, as quoted in "Tony Bennett: “A Quality That Let’s You In," interviewed by Steven A. Cerra)

William Blake’s influence on the Beat Generation is arguably more significant than that of any other writer or artist. Most notably he was Ginsberg’s “guru” and the “catalyst” for his poetry, and even warranted a mention in “Howl”. Blake supposedly appeared to Ginsberg in 1945 and read “Ah Sun-flower”, and again in 1948 when Ginsberg was reading “The Sick Rose”. He explained,

"I was never able to figure out whether I was having a religious vision, a hallucinatory experience, or what, but it was the deepest ‘spiritual’ experience I had in my life, and determined my karma as poet. That’s the-key pivotal turnabout of my own existence. That’s why I was hung up on setting Blake to music."