A very rare complete run of the first 23 issues of Crawdaddy!, the first ever U.S. magazine of Rock and Roll criticism (and probably the first in the world.) Preceding "Rolling Stone" by more than a year, Crawdaddy! was started in Feb. 1966 by college student Paul Williams, operating out of his dorm room at Swarthmore College, in a suburb of Philadelphia. Williams, who went on to author over 25 books (mostly on various music topics,) produced the ultra rare first two issues using a mimeograph machine; the first 6 issues were hand assembled and stapled. Crawdaddy ! was an early outlet for many important rock writers and helped launch the careers of Jon Landau (later Bruce Springsteen's manager,) Sandy Pearlman, Richard Meltzer and Peter Knobler. In these issues Williams and his fellow writers cover the gamut of 60's Rock, from Bob Dylan to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Buffalo Springfield, and every other important artist of the time. The first three issues in this set come from the collection of late Fugs member Tuli Kupferberg, while issues 4 through 23 (dated June, 1969) are from the archive of Ralph J. Gleason, pioneering music journalist and co-founder of Rolling Stone (a number of the issues have his subscription label.) The issues are all in Very Good or better condition, some with light foxing, but all complete. A possibly unique collection documenting the birth of Rock journalism. SOLD