3 Days of Peace & Music. Aquarian Exposition : Woodstock Music & Art Fair

Official programme for the first Woodstock Music & Art Fair held in Woodstock, New York in August 1969. [Philadelphia?] : Concert Hall Publications, Inc., 1969. First edition, first issue, with the ‘f’ in the word ‘of’ on the upper wrapper overlapping a flower, adjusted for greater clarity in later reprints. Quarto, colour photographic wrappers, pp [51], colour illustrated throughout; half title page and programme credits printed on translucent paper; lower section of wrappers and leaves with wrinkling due to water staining (that occurred during the torrential downpour on the second day of the event!); else very good.

The three day fair at Woodstock – the highpoint of sixties Hippie counterculture – changed the history of music. This rare original programme is devoted to the groups performing at the event, and also contains some poetry and philosophical remarks. It includes full page promotional advertisements for performers such as Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, Canned Heat, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Ravi Shankar, The Who, Bert Sommer, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Jeff Beck, Tim Hardin, The Band, Creedence Clearwater, Sly and the Family Stone, Sweetwater, Ten Years After, Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Johnny Winter, Incredible String Band, Santana, Quill, Mountain and Keef Hartley.