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Lord John Press, 1981. First Edition. Broadside. Fine. James R. Silke. First Separate Printing of this poem on a 16" x 11" broadside designed and illustrated by James R. Silke. One of 150 numbered copies SIGNED by Carver and Silke.
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Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, (1977). First Edition. Hardcover. Fine in a Fine dustwrapper. SIGNED on the title page and additionally INSCRIBED on the front endpaper to the poet William Meredith: "For Bill,/'a good poet and/a nice man,' who/has been both to me/from/Charles."
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New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine in a Fine dustwrapper and uncommon in this condition. Dugan's second book, follow-up to his winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and aptly titled.
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Finn Rock, OR, 6 July 1979. Letter. Normal mailing folds. Fine with hand-addressed envelope. Fine one-page, single-spaced TYPED LETTER of @250 words SIGNED as "Barry." Lopez congratulates Merwin on winning the Bollingen Prize and then launches into a newsy account of his book tour for OF WOLVES AND MEN: "I could not have been treated better by Scribner's as far as a focus on the book and not on me was concerned." He then discusses his work at hand: "I'm pleased with RIVER NOTES, the second book in the trilogy that began with DESERT NOTES. I wanted the link between the two books to be clear, but for them to be as different as the landscapes from which they derive in their structure and incident, and am satisfied that they are.
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New York: Spiral Press, 1949. First Edition. Wraps. Fine. Printed wraps. Crane B21: 3060 total copies printed, this one of 225 with Frost's own imprint. INSCRIBED but not signed by Frost on the title page: "To the Hockings wherever they are/meditating the wrong Muse." Richard Hocking seems to have been an acquaintance of Frost's during the 1920s and 1930s, having graduated from Harvard in 1928 and earning a Master's there shortly after. When inscribing Christmas greetings, Frost would often not sign his inscription, or at the most simply initial it.
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(Salisbury, MD): Scarab Press, (1982). First Edition. Wraps. A few faint spots to covers. About Fine. Trade" issue. Intaglio illustration on the front cover by Patrick H. Cardiff. Copy #98 of 75 (of a total edition of 100) numbered copies SIGNED twice by the author, once on the title page and again on the colophon page. His first limited edition after achieving some commercial success.
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London: Faber & Faber, (1932). First Edition. Hardcover. This is a lovely example with light foxing to the endpapers, typical to this title, and bright boards with the gilt fully intact. The cream dustwrapper printed in blue, neatly price-clipped, has just the slightest of wear to the tips of the spine, which is mildly darkened, and a tiny chip at the bottom of the rear panel. Near Fine in a Near Fine dustwrapper. Scarce in this condition. Bloomfield A3: only 1000 copies printed. Auden's third book, though his first consisted of less than 50 copies.
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Cummington, MA, 28 March 1977. Letter. Fine. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED filling an entire sheet of 8" x 10" paper to a collector regarding signing books and mentioning thirteen of his titles. In part: "After years of keeping all my work in print, Harcourt Brace J. has just allowed the earlier titles to lapse. I think that one can now get WALKING TO SLEEP, OPPOSITES, THE MIND-READER, Moliere's SCHOOL FOR WIVES and RESPONSES (prose pieces) in hard cover." Much more. Wilbur's calligraphic handwriting makes this an especially attractive piece.
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New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., (1979). First Edition. Hardcover. Slight dustspotting to the top edge of the text. Fine in a Near Fine dustwrapper. INSCRIBED and SIGNED to the poet William Meredith in 1979 in Brockport: "William, inscribed for you/with admiration, and with/thanks for many kindnesses,/always--/Bill.
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New York: The Viking Press, (1965). First Edition. Hardcover. Some dust spotting to top of bulked text. Near Fine in a Very Good dustwrapper with some darkening to the spine and top edges with a short tear at the rear. Poet's second book, SIGNED on the title page and INSCRIBED on the half-title page in 1971: "for Bill Meredith/with gratitude for/this most pleasant/meeting/Irving." Laid in is an AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED from Feldman to Meredith forwarding a poem (not present) and asking about Randall Jarrell's family.
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[Toledo, OH]: Aureole Press, 2008. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine without dustwrapper, as issued. A single-signature oversized book (9-1/2" x 12-1/2") of prose poems printed in three colors from Bell types on Superfine papers and bound in green cloth with a pictorial design on paper pasted to the front cover; 24 pages. Of an edition of 200 SIGNED and numbered copies, this is copy #12 of only 25 copies bound in cloth as opposed to wrappers for the rest of the edition.
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Port Townsend, WA: Graywolf Press, (1983). First Edition. Softcover. Fine, uncirculated copy acquired directly from the publisher, apparently one of only two issued in this format. Scarce Advance Copy in printed wraps of this collection of poems from limited editions 1968-1981.
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New York: Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 1953. First Edition. Decorated wraps. Wrappers are slightly darkened with two round oily stains on the rear, not too dark. The front wrapper has one short closed tear neatly repaired internally with tape and a sliver chip on the lower right corner with the detached piece still present. Very Good to Near Fine example of this scarce book. Jane Freilicher. Ashbery's first book, a 23-page chapbook in sewn decorated paper wraps, one of only 300 copies printed. Illustrated with four drawings by Jane Freilicher. In this copy two of the plates are duplicated giving a total of six plates. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the poet to Herbert with love and also INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the artist to Herbert with "my love, too." Both inscriptions are on the title page and appear to be contemporary.
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New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. First Edition. Softcover. Near Fine. Meredith's own copy of the uncorrected proof in printed wraps. Laid in on a 7" x 5" card is a MANUSCRIPT poem from the book, "Country Stars," written by Meredith and dated January 1975.
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New York: Henry Holt, 1915. First American Edition. Hardcover. Owner name of Henry Meigs dated "8-15-15" on the front endpaper and occasional pencil marks throughout. Faint stain to cloth at front cover. Near Fine in a gorgeous and scarce first issue dustwrapper. Stated "Third Edition" on the copyright page but actually the Second Edition and the first edition printed in America; Crane A3.2: 1300 copies published. With "fain" for "faint" on the front panel of the dustwrapper.
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[1926]. Manuscript. Several words on the last page are partly faded and obliterated by a repaired tear. A spectacular find in Good to Very Good condition. Exceptionally scarce 4-page AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT of a poem written by Auden as a teenager. Published in THE OXFORD OUTLOOK in November 1926 and not published in book form until 1994 in W. H. AUDEN JUVENILIA edited by Katherine Bucknell, from which much of the information below was acquired. Two other manuscript copies of this poem are known to exist, in the collections of David Ayerst (Bloomfield J16) and of Christopher Isherwood, neither exactly identical to this but both resembling this much more than the published version which eliminated several stanzas present here. All told there are 78 lines divided into three sections on both sides of two 6-7/8" x 8-7/8" sheets of paper watermarked "Civic Bond" that have long ago been neatly joined by a conservator who also made several paper repairs. The poem begins "The queen's hand on the king's cold shoulder falling." Bucknell points out that the poem is reminiscent of THE WASTE LAND with the left out passages revealing some borrowing from Eliot's "The Hollow Men." This manuscript was acquired along with a letter from Auden to Robert Medley and was likely given to Medley at some point. Auden met and became friends with Medley in 1922 shortly after Auden's 15th birthday. It was Robert Medley who suggested that Auden try writing poetry. Later Medley helped to create the Group Theater where he provided scenery and costumes for the play ON THE FRONTIER by Auden and Isherwood.
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London, 22 December 1953. Letter. Central vertical and horizontal folds with staple holes to one upper corner. Fine. One-page letter on both sides of Faber & Faber stationery SIGNED by the poet. Addressed to Anne Munro-Kerr of London's League of Dramatists. In part: "I am not quite clear, I am afraid, as to how we have been dealing with productions of my plays in the French translation, outside of France itself--that is to say, in Brussels and Geneva.... I excepted France in my arrangements with you for the reason that Monsieur Henri Fluchere, the translator, who had taken the whole initiative in getting the successful production of MEURTRE DANS LA CATHEDRALE in 1945, likes to deal with these matters himself, as he has theatrical connections and also considerable financial interest in the success of my plays in his translation, he has seemed wholly competent to do so.... He would like, however, to make his responsibility inclusive--that is to say, have the four plays that he has translated whenever they are produced in French ... and I am prepared to sign an agreement to that effect. This will not, of course, have any retroactive value for any of the productions previously in Brussels or Geneva that have been arraigned by yourselves." The letter is 6-1/2" x 7-1/2" and is double-matted with a portrait and framed to an overall size of 18-1/2" x 14-1/2". Fluchere was a prominent literary critic and translator, best known for his studies of Shakespeare, who served as Eliot's primary French translator. In addition to his plays, Fluchere translated several of Eliot's poems and critical essays; the collaboration was mutually beneficial, with Eliot contributing the foreword to the English version of Fluchere's 1956 scholarly work SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHIANS. This letter, in particular, refers to the translation of MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, which was first performed in 1935. A fabulous letter revealing the worldwide appeal of Eliot's acclaimed literary work.
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Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1976. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Early collection of poems, one of only 100 numbered and SIGNED copies of the hardcover issue of a total edition of 1100.
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Palaemon Press, (1981). Wraps. Fine in a Fine dustwrapper. Richard Wilbur. Stiff black wraps with dustwrapper. Illustrated with drawings by the author. One of 110 numbered and SIGNED copies of a total edition of 181.
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1947. Manuscript. Very Good and scarce. Holograph Manuscript of "Serenade," first published in the periodicals ATLANTIC in November 1947 and PHOENIX QUARTERLY in 1948 and later included in Auden's 1951 collection NONES. It consists of three stanzas, each with eight lines, on the recto of an unlined 8-1/2" x 11" paper neatly penned completely in Auden's hand with a SIGNED INSCRIPTION at the bottom "To Bill/from/Wystan./June 26th 1947." According to Mendelson, Auden composed this poem in June 1947. There are several differences in punctuation between this manuscript and the printed version, but more importantly are word changes in four lines. Auden salutes the "incumbent" night in the printed version but here salutes the "threatening" night at the end of the first stanza. "The child with careful charm" is here "The careful child with charm." Auden also uses "that" for "which" in line 22 and "from" for "of" in the last line. Alas, we do not know who Bill is. Once folded in quarters, there is a visible but not disconcerting crease mark where folded as well as some minor general wrinkling. Two words in the third line are a little smudged but still readable. With an early undated typed transcription.
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London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1934. Reprint. Hardcover. Mild foxing, browning to endpapers. Near Fine. Green cloth with approximately 330 pages printed on thin (but strong) India paper. An anthology of inspirational writing first published in 1916 during the First World War. With a SIGNED gift inscription from three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thornton Wilder on the front free endpaper: "Charlotte Lincoln/from Thornton/Jan. 3. 1936." The recipient was evidently a relative, as both Charlotte and Lincoln are Wilder family names. Thornton Wilder's paternal grandparents were Amos Lincoln Wilder and Charlotte Topliff Wilder. His great-grandmother was Lucy Lincoln. Thornton's Wilder's sister was named Charlotte, and he had at least one other close family member (an aunt) by that name. Our research indicates the Lincoln in "Charlotte Lincoln" was probably a middle name, since the Wilders often used family surnames as middle names. Thornton Wilder's middle name, for example was Niven, his mother's maiden name. Beyond that, we were unable to pinpoint exactly which relative "Charlotte Lincoln" was from Wilder's large family.
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Palo Alto, California: American West Publishing Company, 1970. Hardcover. Very Good+/Good+. Charming anthology of old western verse. Much like its theme, the book is nice and sturdy with only superficial wear. Unlike its theme, it is also clean! The jacket has a strip of mailing tape running along the top to secure some tears and also has a tear and price clip on the inner front flap. Packed and shipped with care.
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New York: Limited Editions Club, 1980. Hardcover. Fine in torn glassine and a Fine slipcase. Paul Hogarth. Octavo (6-7/8" x 10") bound in half buckram and paper sides printed letterpress. Copy #1470 of 2000 illustrated with 8 water-color reproductions by Paul Hogarth. SIGNED by the typographer Freeman Keith and by the illustrator on the colophon page. Printed at the Stinehour Press.
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Milano: All'Insegna del Pesce d'Oro, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover. Bookplate on front pastedown of Maire Christina Magee Lawson. Some wear to the boards, Very Good. Decorated gray boards with sepia head of Pound by Gaudier-Brzeska on the front cover. Copy #41 of 503 printed at the Stamperia Valdonega di Verona. INSCRIBED and SIGNED on the front endpaper by the poet: "Teresa's copy/Ezra Pound." Laid in are three pieces of ephemera: a postcard advertisement for this book with a portrait of Pound signed by V. Scheiwiller, a folded price list with the same portrait from Scheiwiller, and a color postcard of Rapallo, addressed in an unknown hand to Teresa Magee in Rome in 1967, and SIGNED "Love and best wishes/Fifi/John/Olga/Ezra Pound." The postcard is SIGNED by Pound, but the other names appear to be in their own hands. Teresa Magee translated some Italian modern writers into English.
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n.p.: [The Orange Mountain Private Press], (Christmas 1949). First Edition. Wraps. Covers lightly soiled. Near Fine and obviously very scarce. Heavy light beige wraps (6" x 9-1/4") with the author's name printed on the front; 8 pages. One of only 15 copies printed of this prayer of common faith written by Benet in 1942.
