PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A recording of Beat Generation poet Gary Snyder reading his work 52 years ago at his alma mater, Reed College, has surfaced.

It is a casette copy of a reel-to-reel tape of a reading on Feb. 14, 1956. It is believed that the original recording was the earliest of Snyder's work.

KGW photo

The Reed College campus in Portland.

It includes a version of his long poem "Myths & Texts."

Other poems on the recording appeared in his books "Riprap," "The Back Country" and "Left Out in the Rain."

The Oregonian newspaper reported that Portland photographer Steve Halpern called Reed to say that in 1985 he had copied the recording on cassette from a tape reel.

Helpern was a Reed student at the time and had checked out the recording from the college's library.

Snyder graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland and Reed. He is 78.