A Boy’s Will.

FROST, Robert.

Item Number: 110636

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915.

First American edition, first printing of Frost’s first commercially published book of poems with “Aind” uncorrected in the final line of page 14. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles and ruling to the spine and front panel. In near fine condition.

Like much of Frost's work, the poems in A Boy's Will thematically associate with rural life, nature, philosophy, and individuality, while also alluding to earlier poets including Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, and William Wordsworth. Most of the poems in A Boy's Will had never been published previously. While in England, Frost determined to have them collected and his manuscript was accepted by the first publisher he approached. The book was published by David Nutt of London in 1913, with a dedication to Frost's wife Elinor. Elinor had assisted in choosing the poems and arranging the order for publication. Following the success of North of Boston in 1914, Henry Holt and Company republished A Boy's Will in 1915. The New York Times said in a review, "In republishing his first book after his second, Mr. Robert Frost has undertaken the difficult task of competing with himself. " The Holt edition was the first edition of the book published in the United States.