Poetry
Rare Poetry Books & First-Edition Poetry Books for Sale Online
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Where the Sidewalk Ends, Signed by Shel Silverstein
SILVERSTEIN, Shel.
Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings.
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974.
First edition, early printing of the author's first collection of children's poetry. Small quarto, original brown cloth, illustrated. Boldly signed by Shel Silverstein on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $4,000.00 Item Number: 145319
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"And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything": First Edition of Mary Oliver's Swan: Poems and Prose Poems
OLIVER, Mary.
Swan: Poems and Prose Poems.
Boston: Beacon Press, 2010.
First edition of Mary Oliver's beautifully evocative book of poems. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Bob Kosturko. Jacket photograph by Mark Emery.
Price: $50.00 Item Number: 145136
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"I am only waiting for love to give myself up at last into his hands": Gitanjali (Song Offerings); Signed by Rabindranath Tagore
TAGORE, Rabindranath.
Gitanjali [Song Offerings].
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916.
First Bolpur edition of this collection of prose translated by Tagore from the original Bengali, largely for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, engraved frontispiece portrait of Tagore. Boldly signed by Rabindranath Tagore on the half-title page. Introduction by W.B. Yeats. In near fine condition. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $6,000.00 Item Number: 144306
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First Edition of Death and Entrances; Inscribed by Dylan Thomas
THOMAS, Dylan.
Death and Entrances.
London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1946.
First edition of Thomas' most well-known collection of poetry. Small octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Charles Fox from Dylan Thomas." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, recipient name to the front free endpaper.
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 144289
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“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary": Rare First Separate Edition of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
POE, Edgar Allan.
The Raven.
New York: W. Jennings Demorest, c. 1869-1870.
The first separate American edition of Poe's most famous poem, and likely the first separate edition overall, preceding the 1869 Glasgow edition (BAL 16216). Small octavo, original cloth, blue endpapers. Octavo, original colored pictorial wrappers printed in blue and gold. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Only four copies of this separate Demorest edition have been located in OCLC, at the Huntington, Yale University, Brown University, Emory University, all with their bindings unspecified. Though The Raven is here published separately, another issue has been noted at both the University of Virginia and the Free Library Company…
Price: $17,500.00 Item Number: 144195
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“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light": Signed Limited First Edition of Dylan Thomas' In Country Sleep
THOMAS, Dylan .
In Country Sleep.
New York: New Directions, 1952.
Signed limited edition, one of 100 copies of this collection of poems, including the first book appearance of "Do not go gentle into that good night," published the year before his death, Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Dylan Thomas. Fine in a fine slipcase. An exceptional example.
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 109248
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First edition of You, Emperors, and Others; inscribed by Robert Penn Warren
WARREN, Robert Penn.
You, Emperors, and Others: Poems 1957-1960.
New York: Random House, 1960.
First edition of the collected poems of Robert Penn warren written in the years 1957 to 1960. Quarto, original publisher's cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author to poet and editor William Claire on the front free endpaper, "To William Claire in friendship Robert Penn Warren." Very good in a good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 143956
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"When you were sick in bed and out of town, it was a thing of beauty and was sent to live its life out as an ornament": FIRST EDITION OF STEEPLE BUSH; INSCRIBED BY ROBERT FROST
FROST, Robert.
Steeple Bush.
New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1947.
First edition of this collection of poems by the Pulitzer-Prize winning poet. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Robert Frost Bread Loaf 1947 For Irby Cauthen." The recipient was an English professor at the University of Virginia. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 143950
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"These woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep": First edition, first printing of New Hampshire; Inscribed by Robert Frost and in the Rare Original dust jacket
FROST, Robert; Woodcuts by J.J. Lankes.
New Hampshire.
New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1923.
First edition, first printing of Robert Frost's first Pulitzer Prize-winning collection. Octavo, original cloth, woodcuts by J.J. Lankes. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author, "Robert Frost to Penelope Otis 1961." Near fine in the rare dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise and clamshell box. Uncommon signed and in the original dust jacket.
Price: $8,200.00 Item Number: 143960
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Rare Broadside of North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell; Signed by Elizabeth Bishop
BISHOP, Elizabeth.
North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell.
Memorial broadside, signed by Elizabeth Bishop, one of only 150 examples. It measures 21 inches by 14.5 inches. Framed, signature lightly faded, small stain to the bottom edge. Rare.
Price: $2,250.00 Item Number: 143985
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"In History There are dogs and dogs. I was among the chosen. I had good papers and wolf's blood in my veins": First Edition of Monologue of A Dog; Signed by Nobel Prize-winning Poet Wislawa Szymborska
SZYMBORSKA, Wislawa; Foreword by Billy Collins.
Monologue of a Dog: New Poems.
Orlando: Harcourt, Inc., 2006.
First edition of this collection of poetry from the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original boards. Signed by Wislawa Szymborska on the half-title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Jennifer Jackman. Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 142558
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Select Poetry: Chiefly on Subjects Connected with Religion; finely bound with a fore-edge painting of St. Saviour's church in London
Select Poetry: Chiefly on Subjects Connected with Religion. [Fore-Edge Painting].
London: R. B. Seeley, 1830.
Finely bound poetry collection decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting. 18mo, bound in full morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, gilt fleuron cornerpieces to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting of St. Saviour's church in London. In very good condition.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 142387
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"Oh, let it be a night of lyric rain and singing breezes, when my bell is tolled": Signed limited edition of Not So Deep As A Well; one of 485 numbered copies signed by Dorothy Parker
PARKER, Dorothy.
Not So Deep as a Well: The Collected Poems of Dorothy Parker.
New York: The Viking Press, 1936.
First edition, signed limited issue of the collected poems of Dorothy Parker. Octavo, original publisher's half cloth over patterned red paper boards, decorated by Valenti Angelo. One of 485 numbered copies signed by the author, this is number 167. In near fine condition.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 142965
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"but like the bard who freely sings in strictest bonds of rhyme and rule and finds in them not bonds but wings": The Problem of Pain; signed and inscribed by C.S. Lewis with a quotation from Coventry Patmore's poem The Angel in the House
LEWIS, C.S.
The Problem of Pain.
London: The Centenary Pres, 1941.
Early printing of Lewis's classic discussion of the nature of good and evil; inscribed by him with a quotation from Coventry Patmore's poem The Angel in the House which had a profound influence on the development of Lewis's Christian beliefs. Octavo, original publisher's cloth. Signed by C.S. Lewis with a quotation from Coventry Patmore's poem The Angel in the House, "They live by law, not like the fool, But like the bard who freely sings in strictest bonds of rhyme and rule and finds in them not bonds but wings - Patmore C.S. Lewis April 1944." First published in 1854,…
Price: $15,000.00 Item Number: 143183
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First edition of First Poems; signed and inscribed by James Merrill with a four-line stanza from his poem White Stag, Black Bear
MERRILL, James.
First Poems.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.
First edition of the author's first regularly published book. Octavo, original maroon cloth. One of 990 numbered copies printed, this is number 912. Association copy, signed and inscribed by the author on the title page with a four-line stanza from his poem White Stag, Black Bear, "...We called the autumn night his lair, Yet knew it ours, who long ago released, movements of such persuasiveness in the beast, that seven stars became a bear. James Merrill for Robert A. Wilson." The recipient, Robert A. Wilson was an noted bibliophile, publisher and proprietor of the Phoenix Book Shop in Greenwich Village.…
Price: $1,600.00 Item Number: 143437
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Czeslaw Milosz's Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition; Signed by Him
MILOSZ, Czeslaw.
Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1968.
First edition of the re-issue of the Nobel Prize-winning author's classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Czeslaw Milosz on the front free endpaper. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Lewis Friedman. Author photograph by Thomas Victor.
Price: $800.00 Item Number: 142086
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"Thus easily can Earth digest A cinder of sidereal fire, And make her translunary guest The native of the English shire": First edition, presentation copy of The Great Divorce; inscribed by C.S. Lewis with a pre-publication appearance of 'The Meteorite'
LEWIS, C.S.
The Great Divorce.
London: Geoffrey Bles: The Centenary Press, 1945.
First edition of the author's allegorical tale about a bus ride from Hell to Heaven. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper with a pre-publication appearance of his 5-stanza autograph poem, The Meteorite, "The Meteorite Among the hills the meteorite Lies huge; and moss has overgrown, And wind and rain with fingers light Made soft the contours of the stone. Thus easily can Earth digest A cinder of sidereal fire, And make her translunary guest The native of the English shire. Nor is it strange these wanderers Find in her lap their fitting…
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 143245
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First Edition of Wallace Stevens' The Auroras of Autumn
STEVENS, Wallace.
The Auroras of Autumn.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1950.
First edition of this classic National Book Award winning collection. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise box. An exceptional presentation, rare in this condition.
Price: $1,400.00 Item Number: 142950
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First Edition of Czeslaw Milosz's Emperor of the Earth: Modes of Eccentric Vision; Signed by Him
MILOSZ, Czeslaw.
Emperor of the Earth: Modes of Eccentric Vision.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
First edition of this collection of essays by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Czeslaw Milosz on the front free endpaper. Fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by John E. Johnson, Jr. Uncommon signed.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 142084
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Rare manuscript poem signed by "The Greatest" American Boxer Muhammad Ali
ALI, Muhammad.
“The President” Muhammad Ali Signed Manuscript Poem.
Manuscript poem signed by famed American boxer Muhammad Ali. One page, the poem is titled, "The President" and reads in part, "The face of the Pres is open, The eyes of the Pres are bright, The lips of the Pres are now closed, The head of the Pres is upright, The breast of the Pres slants forward, The gaze of the Pres is bright... The soul of the Pres is flaming, the heart of the Pres is warm... The image of this Pres is truth, Wisdom's message his rod. The home of the Pres is the white house and the president's…
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 143204
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First Edition of Robert Lowell's History
LOWELL, Robert.
History.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.
First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, name to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by Charles Skaggs. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 143031
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"We hear the ocean. Older seas and deserts give asylum, peace to each abortion and mistake. Lost in the Near Eastern dreck, the tyrant and tyrannicide lie like the bridegroom and the bride": First edition of Robert Lowell's Near The Ocean; inscribed by him
LOWELL, Robert.
Near The Ocean.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971.
First Noonday printing of Lowell's renowned collection of poems, including his famous Waking Early on Sunday Morning. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "For Sebastiano In the time of my crisis Robert Lowell Jan. 6, 1976 Greenways Nur[s]ing Home Robert." In very good condition with a few holograph markings and notes including brief corrections on pages 35 and 40, owner's inscription covered with white paint on front inside cover. Uncommon signed and inscribed.
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 142550
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"My Soul I summon to the winding ancient stair, Set all your mind upon the steep ascent, Upon the broken, crumbling battlement": First Edition of W.B. Yeats' The Winding Stair and Other Poems; in the rare original dust jacket
YEATS, William Butler [W.B.].
The Winding Stair and Other Poems.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1933.
First edition of Yeats' classic work. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, front panel stamped in blind. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket which is in very good condition.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 143003
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"Jellicle Cats come out tonight, Jellicle cats come one come all: the jellicle moon is shining bright- jellicles come to the jellicle ball": First edition of T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
ELIOT, T.S.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939.
First American edition of Eliot's beloved collection of whimsical feline poems which served as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 megamusical phenomenon Cats. Octavo, original cloth. Very good in a good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket illustration by T.S. Eliot.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 143002
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First edition of Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series
DICKINSON, Emily. Edited by T.W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.
Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series.
Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1891.
First edition of Emily Dickinson's second book of poetry. BAL 4656. Octavo, original publisher's gray and green cloth decoratively stamped in gilt, all edges gilt, facsimile manuscript leaves at front, tissue guarded title page. In very good condition. A nice example.
Price: $6,800.00 Item Number: 142680
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The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray; finely bound with a concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College
GRAY, Thomas.
The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. [Fore-edge Painting].
London: Bell and Daldy, 1857.
Finely bound collection of the collected poetical works of Thomas Gray decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College. Octavo, bound in full straight grain morocco with gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College. In very good condition. Armorial bookplate.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 142194
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
First edition, early printing of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Seamus Heaney 13 March 2002 Sutton House." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket painting by Barrie Cooke. Author photograph by Caroline Forbes.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 142416
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Finely bound collection of the letters and poems of Henry Kirke White; finely bound and decorated with a fore-edge painting
WHITE, Henry Kirke.
Remains of Henry Kirke White, with a Memoir of the Author. [Fore-edge Painting].
Glasgow: Printed for Richard Griffin & Co, 1844.
Finely bound collection of the letters and poems of Henry Kirke White. 12mo, finely bound in full morocco elaborately decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of White, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting. In very good condition. Ownership inscription. A unique example.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 142137
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 2000.
First edition of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 142139
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Rare First Edition of Sylvia Plath's The Colossus and Other Poems
PLATH, Sylvia.
The Colossus and Other Poems.
London: Heinemann, 1960.
First edition of the first complete volume of poetry to be published by Plath and the only volume published in her lifetime. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase. An exceptional example.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 142976
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Rare autograph poem sent by William Cullen Bryant to his publisher George R. Graham
BRYANT, William Cullen.
William Cullen Bryant Autograph “The Voice of Autumn” Poem Signed.
November 21, 1853: .
Rare autograph poem in the hand of William Cullen Bryant sent by him to magazine publisher George R. Graham for inclusion in his literary periodical Graham's Magazine with the accompanying transmittal letter from Bryant to Graham. Quarto, two pages. Addressed to George R. Graham, the letter reads in part, "New York Monday Nov. 21, 1853 My dear Sir, I send you on the other leaf a poem for Graham's Magazine. I hope it will reach you for your purpose. I am Sir very truly yours W. C. Bryant." The first stanzas of the poem read, "The Voice of Autumn by…
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 142753
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The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare; elaborately bound in full morocco
SHAKESPEARE, William.
The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. With A Glossary.
Chiswick: Printed by C. Whittingham, 1825.
Finely bound example of the collected dramatic works of William Shakespeare. 12mo, bound in full pebbled dark green morocco with gilt titles and elaborate gilt tooling to the spine, gilt tooling to the front and rear panels withing triple gilt ruling to the spine and front panels, gilt turn-ins and wide gilt inner dentelles, all edges gilt, engraved additional pictorial title and title-vignette. In very good condition.
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 142618
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Signed by Him
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
First edition of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Seamus Heaney on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket painting by Barrie Cooke. Author photograph by Caroline Forbes. A very sharp example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 142391
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"Alas! the love of women! it is known To be a lovely and a fearful thing": Rare complete first edition set of Lord Byron's Don Juan; from the library of Erica Jong
BYRON, George Gordon Noel. [Lord Byron].
Don Juan.
London: Thomas Davison [i.e., John Murray], 1819-1821 (Cantos I-V, Volumes I-II)/John Hunt, 1823-24 (Cantos VI-XVI, Volumes III-VI).
Scarce complete first edition set of Byron's great work which was widely criticized as immoral upon publication and is now considered one of the greatest poems of the Romantics; from the library of American writer Erica Jong. Volume one was produced in quarto format and the subsequent 5 volumes in octavo (Davison abandoned the quarto format after disappointing sales of the first volume), six volumes uniformly bound in full morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With an autograph letter signed…
Price: $15,000.00 Item Number: 142573
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First edition of Pablo Neruda's Let the Rail Splitter Awake; from the library of Erica Jong
NERUDA, Pablo.
Let The Rail Splitter Awake and Other Poems.
New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc, 1950.
First American edition of this collection of early English translations of Neruda's poetry, including The Heights of Macchu Picchu. Octavo, original wrappers. From the library of Erica Jong, although not marked. Erica Jong remains best known for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. Written in the first person and narrated by its protagonist, 29-year-old American poet Isadora Wing, Fear of Flying was written in the throes of the Sexual Revolution of the 1970s and encapsulated the movement’s redefinition of female sexuality.…
Price: $175.00 Item Number: 142345
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“It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?": First edition of Vita Sackville-West's Collected Poems; signed by her and from the library of Erica Jong
SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita.
Collected Poems.
London: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1933.
First edition of Sackville-West's collected poems including "The Land" and "Sissinghurst" (which was dedicated to Virginia Woolf), as well as 28 new poems published here for the first time. Octavo, complete in one volume (Volume I was the only volume published). Signed by the author on the front free endpaper. From the library of Erica Jong. Jong remains best known for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying which became famously controversial for its portrayal of female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. Written in the first person and narrated by its protagonist, 29-year-old American poet Isadora…
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 142371
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First and deluxe edition of A London Garland: Selected From Five Centuries of English Verse by W. E. Henley with Pictures of the Society of Illustrators
[THE SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS; ARTHUR RACKHAM],.
A London Garland: Selected From Five Centuries of English Verse by W. E. Henley with Pictures of the Society of Illustrators.
London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1895.
First and deluxe edition of this selection of five centuries of verse with commentary by the Society of Illustrators. Quarto, original publisher's deluxe full vellum, illustrated, with one full page illustration by Arthur Rackham on page 104. In good condition with some chipping to the crown of the spine.
Price: $150.00 Item Number: 142637