Search Results: Poetry from B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA

Paris: Michel Lévy Frères, 1872 First edition. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Hugo on the half-title to close friend and fellow writer, Ernest d'Hervilly: A mon cher et charmant/ poëte d'Hervilly / Victor Hugo." Finely bound in three-quarter blue crushed morocco over black and blue marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt, four raised bands, speckled edges, gray marbled endpapers, original gray printed front wrapper bound in at front. Spine lightly faded, mild rubbing and slight wear to the extremities, front wrapper with some light staining; internally, very clean with a few scattered spots, else near fine. . Signed by Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine.

Westminster: The Beaumont Press, 1919 Illustrated with hand colored woodcuts by Anne Estelle Rice. First edition, limited issue of 200 numbered copies, this being one of 50 copies printed on cartridge paper. Publisher's green cloth and yellow patterned boards, lettered in gilt. About fine, corners very lightly bumped, former owner's bookplate to the front pastedown, fresh interior. A beautiful copy. Roberts A12.b. An exceedingly rare publication, Bay was first published in several short print runs. This first edition is one of 200 copies, and only 50 copies, like this copy, are printed on cartridge paper with hand colored illustrations. According to the publisher, roughly 25 of the 50 cartridge paper copies were not sold due to an accident, lowering the total number of obtainable copies of Bay to 175 (63 of which are housed in institutional libraries' special collections) and making these copies the scarcest of the three variants. The remaining 150 copies are comprised of 120 copies… Read More

Saint Paul: Graywolf Press, 1985 Introduction by Ralph Ellison. First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed by Ellison on the title page: "For Harold F. Mays / That admirable book-sleuth with / pleasure / Sincerely / Ralph Ellison." Additionally signed by Charles Wright on p. 310. Publisher's green cloth-backed black boards stamped in gilt, black endpapers; original black dust jacket designed by Tree Swenson, lettered in green and yellow, photo of writing pad taken by Paul Boyer to front panel. Fine book; fine unclipped dust jacket. Includes near fine typed promotional letter, with horizontal folding crease, light creasing, and a hint of toning to edges. Overall, a pristine signed copy with a very nice association. Buying Time celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. It brings together works from twenty-five well-known writers who benefited from fellowships and awards and were given, according to the book's… Read More

New York: The Alcestis Press, 1935 First edition, limited issue of 165 copies. Signed by Williams on the limitation page. Additionally inscribed by Williams on the front free endpaper: "Never give up / keep at it! / William Carlos Williams". Publisher's cream paper wrappers, lettered in black; in the original glassine dust jacket. Near fine, with some light toning and wear to the spine ends, a few faint scuffs to the endpapers, else bright and fresh; glassine with loss to most of the spine, with some chips to the panel edges, light toning to the extremities. An Early Martyr is a collection of thirty poems that includes "The Yachts," "Proletarian Portrait," "To a Poor Old Woman," "Flowers By the Sea," "To a Mexican Pig-Bank," "Solstice," "An Elegy for D.H. Lawrence," "The Catholic Bells," "The Dead Baby," "The Immemorial Wind," "To Be Hungry is to Be Great," and "You Have… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1920 First edition. Publisher's green paper-covered boards, ruled in blind and lettered in gilt; in the original blue-gray dust jacket, lettered in black. A near fine copy with light toning to extremities, small bookseller's sticker to rear pastedown, in a very good dust jacket with some toning to extremities, spine panel split starting at bottom edge, fragile but holding. This collection of poetry includes, along with the titular poem, "The Hounds of Hell," "Cap on Head," "Sonnets," "The Passing Strange," "Animula," "The Lemmings," "Forget," "On Growing Old," "Lyric." Written in rhyming verse in keeping with Masefield's style, the poems employ a melancholy tone and natural imagery.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine.

San Francisco: David Sandberg / Cranium Press, 1966 Limited edition of 700 copies, preceded only by the first edition of 200 copies published six years earlier. Publisher's red paper wrappers with an illustration by Ken Davis to front board in black, string-bound, printed on laid paper. A fine copy. From the personal library of Marshall Efron. The Galilee Hitch-hikers, Brautigan's second book of poetry, is a short poem in nine parts, titled "The Galilee Hitch-hiker," "The American Hotel," "1939," "The Flowerburgers," "The Hour of Eternity," "Salvador Dali," "A Baseball Game," "Insane Asylum," and "My Insect Funeral." Connected by their brief descriptions of events involving the character named Baudelaire, the poems are humorous and whimsical, written in Brautigan's characteristically imaginative style. Marshall Efron (b. 1938) is an American actor, humorist, and author associated with the art and… Read More

New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1923 First edition, second printing, with L-X code (December 1923) to copyright page, and publisher's name to foot of spine. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Millay on front free endpaper: "For / Marjorie Rush / Very sincerely, / Edna St. Vincent Millay [underlined] / Rochester / Feb. 14 / 1924." Publisher's black cloth, with front board and spine lettered in gilt, lacking dust jacket. Fine book. Overall, a fresh example, with bright gilt. Housed in a custom blue half morocco slipcase with folding chemise. Yost 19. The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems is a collection of sixty-eight of Millay's poems, many of which were previously unpublished in book form. Specifically, this volume includes "My Heart, Being Hungry," "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver," "Memory of Cape Cod," and "A Visit to the Asylum," in addition to nearly forty untitled sonnets. Notably, the "The Ballad of the… Read More

London: Macmillan and Co., 1876 Illustrated by Henry Holiday. First edition, first printing, with "baker" on p. 83 and a single leaf of publisher's advertisements. Publisher's decorative light tan boards with illustrations by Holiday in black, lettered in black, all edges gilt, black endpapers. Near fine, with a touch of soiling to front board, moderate toning to spine, a touch of wear to the upper spine, tiny bookseller's embossed stamp to front free endpaper, and light offsetting from emblem on half-title page. Overall, an attractive copy, rarely found in such nice condition. Taylor 382. In this poem, Carroll returns to the setting of "Jabberwocky," the nonsense poem that was published as part of his 1872 novel Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. Specifically, "The Hunting of the Snark" tells the story of ten sailors, each of whose name begins with the letter B, who are in search of a fearsome creature known as the "snark"… Read More

London: [s.n.], 1786 Two volumes. Both volumes inscribed by Hawthorne to Longfellow on front flyleaves: "Nath. Hawthorne / to / H. W. Longfellow / 1841" (Vol. I) and "H. W. Longfellow / from / Nath. Hawthorne / 1841" (Vol. II). Both volumes additionally inscribed on front flyleaves by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, the grandson of both Longfellow and Richard Henry Dana Jr. (author of Two Years Before the Mast, 1840), to Manning Hawthorne, Hawthorne's great-grandson, exactly one hundred years after initial inscription: "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana / to / Manning Hawthorne / 1941." Both volumes finely bound in contemporary brown calf, boards bordered in gilt, spines decorated, ruled, and lettered in gilt, with black leather labels, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Ovid by Marillier to Vol. I, bookplates of H. W. Longfellow and modern owner to front pastedowns. Very good set, with corners worn to boards, some wear to edges… Read More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899 Illustrated with black and white photographs and drawings. First edition, first printing. Publisher's red cloth, lettered in gilt, with Gryphon and White Rabbit to front board in gilt. Near fine, with light toning to spine, light rubbing to spine ends, a couple of gentle bumps to board edges, mild offsetting to endpapers, a bit of separation to front hinge, sound binding otherwise, and light spotting throughout text. Overall, a beautiful yet sturdy copy. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an author, poet, and mathematician, best known for his fantastical children's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). In this unique book, The Lewis Carroll Picture Book, obscure publications, drawings, and photos taken by Carroll are brought together, and contextualized by Carroll's nephew, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood. Chapters in the book include: "The Rectory… Read More

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945 First edition, first printing. Signed and inscribed by Frost on front free endpaper, with a holograph of his poem, "Bravado": "Bravado / Have I not walked without an upward look / Of caution under stars that very well / Might not have missed me when they shot and fell? / It was a risk I had to take - and took. / Robert Frost / For Stanley Brightwell / 1946." Publisher's navy boards, with spine lettered in gilt; in the original pictorial dust jacket, with a drawing of a desert and fire-ball attributed to "Palacias," lettered in black, with portrait of Frost to rear panel. Near fine book, with light rubbing to spine ends and corners of boards, small bookseller's label affixed to front free endpaper, and a hint of soiling to top right of half-title page; in a near fine dust jacket, unclipped, with light toning to spine, light wear to spine ends, bright and clean panels, and lightly nicked corners. Overall, a beautiful copy, with… Read More

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916 First edition, first state, with duplicate lines on p. 88 and "Come" for "Gone" on p. 93. Publisher's dark blue cloth lettered and decorated in gilt; in the original gray dust jacket printed in black. A near fine copy with a touch of rubbing to extremities a small area of the front board, slight lean to spine, a bit of rubbing to the gilt on the front board visible in the "T" in "Mountain" but otherwise bright, a few spots to endpapers, contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper; in a near fine dust jacket with a few tiny chips to spine ends and corners, very faint dampstaining to spine. Overall, an exceptional copy. Crane A4. Mountain Interval is Frost's third published collection of poetry, and is the first appearance of "The Road Not Taken." It also includes the poems "Christmas Trees," "In the Home Stretch," "Birches," "Snow," and "The… Read More

London: Chatto & Windus, 1925 Illustrated with engravings by Clemence Housman after drawings by Paul Woodroffe. First edition, first printing. Finely bound in full light brown polished calf by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, with five raised bands to the spine, spine decoratively tooled in gilt, boards ruled in gilt, lettered in gilt, top edges gilt, gilt turn-ins, green marbled endpapers, pale gold ribbon bookmark; housed in a matching green marbled slipcase. Near fine, with some light rubbing to the extremities, minor toning to the spine and board edges, some very light starting to the front hinge at the spine head, otherwise sturdy spine, clean fresh interior; slipcase with some rubbing and light soiling. An attractive copy in a handsome binding. Aucassin and Nicolette is a 13th century French medieval chantefable (a song-story, or an adventure tale told in prose and verse) about a pair of lovers, Aucaussin and Nicolette, who persevere through ill fate and misfortune to achieve happiness together.… Read More

London: Faber and Faber, 1939 First edition, first printing. Publisher's yellow cloth, with an illustration of two men in roller skates to the front board in red, spine lettered in red; in the original yellow pictorial dust jacket, with an illustration of a man and a line of dancing cats climbing up a ladder to the front panel, illustration of two men on roller skates to the rear panel, spine lettered in black. Very good book, with light toning to spine and board edges, light spotting to endpapers, contemporary ownership signature to front free endpaper, and some occasional soiling to pages; very good unclipped dust jacket, with some toning to spine and panel edges, light pencil mark to front panel, some rubbing to spine, shallow chipping to spine ends, some light spotting and dampstaining to rear panel (dampstaining is along right margin), and light edgewear with a few short closed tears to panel edges. Overall, a pleasing copy of the true first edition of Eliot's classic work. Old Possum's Book of… Read More

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merril Company, 1902 Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. Early printing. Publisher's vertically-ribbed green cloth, lettered to spine in light green, with color pictorial onlay to front board with Christy's illustration of a young woman holding a book, lettered in gilt; in the publisher's glassine wrapper and box. A near fine copy, light scattered spotting to front board, small closed tear to rear free endpaper, else very tight and clean with beautiful illustrations and decorative text borders; glassine wrapper very good with light wear to extremities and a rough closed tear to rear flap; publisher's box good with scattered foxing, wear and splitting to extremities with several tape repairs. Scarce in the original box and glassine. BAL 16657. An Old Sweetheart of Mine is a book-length sentimental love poem. After Riley achieved popular and critical success for his poetry, Howard Chandler Christy created original illustrations for his verses. Riley, a native… Read More

London: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1758 Two volumes. First Baskerville edition. Bound in full brown calf with gilt borders with designs in four corners to boards, gilt designs to edges, spines with five raised bands and designs in gilt to each compartment, black labels with titles in gilt to spines, brown topstains and speckled edges, marbled endpapers, John Earl of Hyndford bookplates to front pastedowns. Very good set, spine ends and corners with some repair, outer hinges reinforced, with some wear to corners, some wear and thin cracks to spine hinges, a bit of rubbing to gilt on spines and edges. Overall, an excellent and well-preserved set. Paradise Lost includes a preface by the set's famed printer, John Baskerville, which gives insight into his approach to printing. Paradise Regain'd includes a biographical section titled "Life of Milton" and two additional works by Milton - "Samson Agonistes" and "Poems upon Several Occasions." Both… Read More

London: Printed by J. M. for John Starkey at the Mitre in Fleetstreet, near Temple-Bar, 1671 First edition, second issue, with "loah" corrected to "loth" on p. 67 of Paradise Regain'd; complete with licensing and errata leaves. Bound in contemporary brown calf, with five raised bands to spine, boards and spine ruled in blind. Very good, with some wear and light insect damage to boards, corners worn to boards, rebacked, contemporary ownership signatures to front free endpaper (recto and verso), occasional light spotting and soiling to pages, and errata errors hand-corrected on pages. Overall, a pleasing and sturdy example of Milton's classic follow-up to "Paradise Lost." "Paradise Regain'd" is Milton's sequel to his epic poem "Paradise Lost," the latter of which tells the Biblical tale of how Adam and Eve were forced out of the idyllic Garden of Eden. Indeed, the regaining of the lost paradise is a major theme in "Paradise… Read More

New York: The Phoenix Bookshop, 1973 Limited first edition. One of 100 numbered copies signed by Bishop (an additional 26 copies lettered A-Z, not for sale, were printed), this being number 28. Original string-tied marbled wrappers, with white label to front wrapper, printed in black. Fine. Overall, a charming and scarce publication. Bishop's "Poem" was first published in the New Yorker in 1972 and later appeared in her acclaimed poetry collection, Geography III (1976). In the semi-autobiographical poem, the narrator finds an old painting of a Nova Scotian town that had "spent 70 years as a minor family relic handed along collaterally to owners who looked at it sometimes, or didn't bother to." The narrator recognizes the town from her youth and reflects on her connection with the painter. Regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, Bishop won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for her second volume of poetry, Poems: North & South/A Cold Spring (1955),… Read More

London: Edward Moxon, 1844 First edition, mixed issue as usual. First impression of Volume I, with "let the flood / of your salt scorn" to page 141. Second impression of Volume II, with the page numbers battered on pages 161 and 163, and with "the end'' to page 175. Publisher's green cloth, spines lettered in gilt and ruled in blind, boards decorated with embossed vine borders. Near fine, with some toning to the spines, a few tiny closed tears to the spine ends, spine head of Volume II rubbed and worn, clean bindings, former owner's bookplates to the front pastedowns, spines very lightly cracked inside the rear covers, otherwise sturdy spines and secure bindings, otherwise bright and fresh pages. A clean and pleasing set, free of any repairs or restoration. Housed in a custom light brown slipcase with dark brown morocco spine, with matching chemises. Published under her maiden name Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Poems is a two-volume collection of Browning's poetry that… Read More

New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1917 First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Millay on the front endpaper: "For Efrem Zimbalist / With his own bad pen, / Edna St. Vincent Millay." Publisher's black cloth, lettered in gilt, pages watermarked "AGM Glaslan"; in glassine wrapper. About fine copy, with a touch of rubbing to gilt at foot of spine, gilt bright elsewhere, Zimbalist's bookplate to front pastedown, light offsetting to front free endpaper inscription from bookplate, and embossed ownership stamp to front free endpaper. Overall, a beautiful inscribed copy of Millay's scarce first book. Housed in a custom maroon half morocco slipcase with folding chemise. Yost 3. Published the same year she received her undergraduate degree from Vassar, Renascence is Millay's first collection of poetry and includes "God's World," "The Suicide," "The Dream," and "Afternoon on a Hill" in addition to… Read More