The San Francisco Oracle (Facsimile Edition)

The San Francisco Oracle, published in the Haight-Ashbury from 1966 to 1968, was one of the most unique and beautiful publications of the 60's. It is remembered for it's extraordinary graphic design by major San Francisco artists, its rainbow colors and the cultural explorations and breakthroughs in its articles, interviews and poetry. At its height, over 120,000 copies of each issue of The Oracle were printed and distributed, and each copy was read by many people. The Oracle is quoted and praised in most of the histories of the 60's. Writers who appeared in The Oracle include: Gary Snyder, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Alan Watts, Stephen Levine, Lenore Kandel, Tim Leary, Michael McClure, Paul Krassner, Buckminster Fuller, Carl Rogers, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Robert Theobald, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and others. Artists include many of the great San Francisco Poster artists such as: Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelly, Bruce Conner, Michael Bowen and Gary Grimshaw. During the 60's there was an incredible surge of creative innovation in journalism. In response to the mainstream medias control of information regarding the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement and the cultural changes that were sweeping America, every large city, many college campuses and even some high schools created their own underground newspapers. Out of this creative ferment arose one publication that burst the boundaries of the newspaper format both in graphic and in written content; The San Francisco Oracle. The Oracle printed artwork in bold colors, merging written content and artistic vision. At times it was difficult to tell if the paper was reflecting the changes in the new culture or originating them. Its style and technical innovations were copied by many of the alternative papers and some of the more adventurous mainstream media. The Oracle is now a cherished legend. Those who remember it compare its beauty to the medieval illuminated manuscripts and the illustrated books of Blake and Dori.