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Blackwell’S rare books
MODERNISMS
Blackwell’s Rare Books
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Please mention Modernisms Catalogue when ordering.
Front cover illustration: Item 157
Back cover illustration: Item 13
1.
2.
Aldington (Richard) Pinorman. Personal recollections of Norman Douglas,
Pino Orioli and Charles Prentice. Heinemann, 1954, FIRST EDITION , 8 plates of
photographs, pp. viii. 218, 8vo, original black cloth with publisher’s device blindstamped to lower board, a little rubbing to bottom corner of upper board, backstrip
lettered in blue, light soiling to top edge, dustjacket lightly soiled overall with fraying
along head and a few short closed tears, chipping at head of backstrip panel, number
in ink at head of front flap, good £40
A ‘cruel and unkind’ lampoon of Eliot
Aldington (Richard) Stepping Heavenward. A Record. The Lungarno Series, No.
7. Florence: Orioli, 1931, FIRST EDITION , 40/800 COPIES (of an edition of 808 copies)
signed by the author, printed on Pescia handmade paper, pp. 125, 8vo, original
quarter cream cloth with yellow sides showing a few light handling marks, panels of
very faint browning to front endpapers, untrimmed and uncut, dustjacket very lightly
soiled overall with some creasing at tips of backstrip and a few faint fospots to rear
panel, very good (Kershaw 144)
£150
Aldington’s faux-scholarly depiction of ‘Jeremy Pratt Sybba, afterwards Father Cibber,
O.S.B., recently beatified by the Roman Curia’ is a savage caricature of T.S. Eliot, whom
Aldington portrays as afflicted with both mental and physical forms of constipation.
It was taken in the spirit that was intended by its target, who bemoaned the ‘cruel
and unkind’ representation of himself and his first wife in his posthumous tribute to
Aldington. Aldington’s gesture was one that ended an already strained friendship at that
time.
3.
Apollinaire (Guillaume) Bleuet. New York: Caliban Press, 2008, 85/100 COPIES
(from an edition of 114 copies), printed on mouldmade paper, French to verso,
English translation by Richard Stokes to recto, pp. [2], 12mo, original handmade
paper wrappers printed in black to front, sewn endpapers using maps of the Middle
East, prospectus laid-in at rear, fine £35
‘Written during the First World War and originally published in the Parisian journal
Nord-sud in 1917, Bleuet is Apollinaire’s poetic meditation on youth and war. The
original title is a reference to the new French recruits and thier cornflower blue uniforms’
(Prospectus).
4.
Inscribed for his fellow Dadaiste, Théodore
Fraenkel
Aragon (Louis) Feu de Joie. Avec un Dessin de
Pablo Picasso. Paris: Au Sans Pareil, 1920, ONE
OF 50 COPIES ‘ POUR LA PRESSE ’ (from an edition of
1070 copies), printed on on Vergé Bouffant paper,
pages lightly toned throughout, pp. [50], crown
8vo, original grey wrappers printed in black,
backstrip lettered in black, edges untrimmed,
protective tissue wrapper, very good £550
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blackwell’S rare books
The author’s first book, which brought him instant acclaim and marked him as a central
figure of the Dada movement, inscribed by him on the half-title: ‘A Théodore Fraenkel’.
Fraenkel was a doctor and writer, who had known André Breton since 1907 and became
one of the inner circle of first Dada then Surrealism. Breton had first introduced him to
Louis Aragon in 1918 and they became friends and collaborators: Fraenkel refused to sign
the surrealist tract ‘Paillasse’ against Aragon.
5.
Beckett (Samuel) Compagnie. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1980, FIRST EDITION , pp. 92,
£750
foolscap 8vo, original printed white wrappers, fine This was Kay Boyle’s copy, with her signature on the front free endpaper. Samuel Beckett
has inscribed the title-page ‘for Kay with love from Sam’. The parcel address label, the
address written by Beckett, in which the book was despatched to Kay Boyle, is loosely
inserted in the book.
Kay Boyle, novelist and poet, was a close friend of Beckett, having first met him during her
years in France in the nineteen twenties and thirties. Their friendship remained close, they
continued a correspondence and Beckett occasionally had the opportunity of meeting her
following her return to America after the war.
6.
Beckett (Samuel) How It Is. John Calder, 1964, PROOF OF FIRST GATHERING for
limited edition of 100 (hors commerce) copies in advance of the first edition, printed
on handmade paper, signed by the author, pp. [vi], 16, 8vo, partially opened and
untrimmed, fine (Federman & Fletcher 384.101)
£550
7.
Beckett (Samuel) Mal vu Mal dit. Paris:
Éditions de Minuit, 1981, FIRST EDITION ,
pp. 80, foolscap 8vo, original printed
white wrappers, near fine £700
This was Kay Boyle’s copy, with her
signature on the front free endpaper.
Samuel Beckett has inscribed the title-page
‘for Kay affectionately, Sam – March 81’.
8.
9.
Beckett (Samuel) Malone Dies. A novel translated from the French by the author.
John Calder, 1958, FIRST UK EDITION , pp. [vi], 120, 8vo, original black boards lightly
soiled overall, backstrip lettered in gilt, endpapers very lightly foxed, dustjacket
frayed along edges with a few creases and short closed tears, light soiling to rear
panel, glassine jacket, good (Federman and Flecher 375.1)
£45
Beckett (Samuel) Oh Les Beaux Jours. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1963, FIRST FRENCH
EDITION , 108/412 COPIES printed on Velin Marqués paper, pp. 89, 12mo, original
white wrappers printed in black, adhesive beginning to show through backstrip,
untrimmed and unopened, tissue jacket, near fine (Federman & Fletcher 149) £100
Beckett’s own translation into French of his 1961 play Happy Days.
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MODERNISMS
10.
Beckett (Samuel) Pas moi [on pages 2-9 of] Minuit 12. Paris: Minuit, January 1975,
SOLE EDITION , pp. 72, crown 8vo, original printed blue wrappers, spine faded, near
fine £200
Signed by Samuel Beckett at the head of page 2.
11.
Beckett (Samuel) Sans. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1969, FIRST EDITION , XLVIII/100
£800
COPIES , pp. 24, f’cap.8vo., original printed white wrappers, untrimmed, fine This was Kay Boyle’s copy, with her signature on the front free endpaper. Samuel Beckett
has inscribed the title-page ‘for Kay with love from Sam. Paris Feb. 70’.
12.
13.
Beckett (Samuel) Waiting for Godot. A tragicomedy in two acts. New York: Grove
Press, 1954, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH , with 4 photographic plates, pp. 61, [4], crown
8vo, original black cloth with title blind-stamped across both boards, a little faint
soiling at head of upper board, backstrip lettered in silver and gilt, red endpapers with
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with minimal toning and a few small spots of
repair around head and to corners, very good (Federman & Fletcher 373)
£1,200
Inscribed and hand-coloured for F.S. Flint, with translations by Ezra Pound
Bosschère (Jean de) 12 Occupations. French Text, With Twelve Designs by the
Author, and an English Translation. Elkin Mathews, 1916, FIRST EDITION , pp. 32,
small 4to, original illustrated stitched orange wrappers with one or two small spots,
near fine (Gallup B12)
£1,000
Inscribed by the author at the head of the
title-page: ‘Colorié pour mon cher Flint, en
pensant au poete et à l’ami. JB. Oct 1916.’ The
edition did include 50 signed and numbered
examples that were also hand-coloured – but
this is a unique copy from the regular run,
inscribed to his Imagist friend Flint.
In the original envelope, with Flint’s typed
address to front, and further protected by
stiff brown paper in between two pieces of
card – all seemingly original, the paper with
a note in French written at the rear. The
envelope has some light soiling and wear
along its folds, but is still entire and the whole
ensemble is remarkably well-preserved.
Writing to Margaret Anderson of The Little Review in 1916, Ezra Pound (whose
translations are featured here) declared de Bosschère ‘the most “modern” writer Paris
can boast, not excluding Apollinaire’ – in fact, the Belgian painter and poet was by then
living in London and was an established presence in Imagist circles. He was a particular
favourite and friend of F.S. Flint, who would translate The Closed Door in 1917. This is a
very notable Imagist association copy.
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blackwell’S rare books
14.
Inscribed for the poet and philosopher T.E. Hulme
Bosschère (Jean de) The Closed Door. Illustrated by the Author, With a Translation
by F.S. Flint, and an Introduction by May Sinclair. John Lane, The Bodley Head,
1917, FIRST EDITION , frontispiece self-portrait, 15 further plates and additional tailpieces, occasional light foxing, pp. [x], 131, 8vo, original slate-grey cloth, title and
horizontal rules stamped in pink to upper board and backstrip, tips of backstrip a
little rubbed, a couple of wrinkles to cloth, dustjacket with rear flap advertising part
II of ‘Blast’ and Pound’s ‘Gaudier-Brzeska’, backstrip panel darkened, lightly soiled
and rubbed with a few chips to corners, faint trace of a bookseller stamp to rear
panel and ‘Net’ stamped after printed price at front, good £1,000
Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf: ‘à T. Hulme, très cordialement, Jean de Bosschère
1917’. Inscribed copies to Hulme are very rarely seen.
In a note postmarked 19th September 1917 to the translator of this volume, Hulme’s
Imagist friend F.S. Flint, he requested that the latter pay him a visit in Frith Street in
the company of Bosschère: with this evidence, we can venture the likelihood that this
presentation copy dates from that visit – during a brief period of leave for Hulme, who was
killed at the Front a matter of days later (28th September 1917).
15.
Bunting (Basil) Loquitur. Fulcrum Press, [1965], FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 200 COPIES (of
an edition of 1,000 copies) printed on Glastonbury laid paper, pp. 80, imperial 8vo,
original black cloth, backstrip gilt lettered, dustjacket, very good £200
16.
Bunting (Basil) The Spoils. Newcastle upon Tyne: Morden Tower Book Poem,
[1965], FIRST EDITION , portrait frontispiece, pp. [16], foolscap 8vo, original sewn
white wrappers, lettered in black, front cover illustration, fine £35
17.
Bunting (Basil) Version of Horace 1969. Officina Mauritiana, 1972, FIRST EDITION ,
48/300 COPIES , single folded sheet, pp. [4], 16mo, in its original printed envelope, as
issued, fine £25
18.
Conrad (Joseph) Almayer’s Folly. A Story of an
Eastern River. Fisher Unwin, 1895, FIRST EDITION ,
first state with title-page printed in black and red and
with type missing in the last 2 lines on p. 110, very
occasional light handling marks, pp. 272, crown 8vo,
original green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, very
light rubbing to extremities, t.e.g., others untrimmed,
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Smith 1;
Cagle A1a1)
£2,750
An exceptional copy of the author’s first book.
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MODERNISMS
19.
Conrad (Joseph) The Arrow of Gold. Fisher Unwin, 1919, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION , with
the full ‘A’ in the headline of p. 67, light diagonal crease to the lower half of a few leaves,
pp. x, 336, crown 8vo, original green cloth stamped in gilt to front, backstrip lettered
in gilt, top edge green, one or two spots to fore-edge, a few small spots to endpapers
with bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with light dustsoiling in places, a few
nicks and light chipping to corners of front panel, very good (Smith 22)
£150
20.
Conrad (Joseph) Chance. A Tale in Two Parts. Methuen, 1913, FIRST EDITION ,
second issue with cancel title-page, pp. [vii], 406, [8 & 31, ads dated Autumn and
July 1913], crown 8vo, original green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, light rubbing
to extremities, fore- and tail edge roughtrimmed, bookplate to flyleaf, very good
(Smith 18)
£200
21.
Conrad (Joseph) Conrad’s Manifesto: Preface to a Career. The History of the Preface
to The Nigger of the “Narcissus”, with Facsimiles of the Manuscripts. Edited with
an Essay by David R. Smith. Northampton, MA : Gehenna Press, 1966, FIRST EDITION ,
876/1,100 COPIES printed on Fabriano paper in black and red, woodcut portrait
frontispiece by Leonard Baskin, 15 facsimile pages, pp.79, 4to, original marbled
boards with printed label to front, rubbing along joints and edges, untrimmed, grey
board folder, board slipcase with some light soiling, very good (Brook 49)
£60
The slipcase label shows the name of Bodley Head, marking this as one of 250 copies
given over to UK subscribers.
22.
Inscribed to Sir Hugh Clifford
Conrad (Joseph) Lord Jim. Edinburgh &
London: William Blackwood, 1900, FIRST
EDITION , light foxing to initial and ultimate
pages with one or two spots throughout text, a
faint waterstain at the head of the first 70 or so
pages, pp. [iv], 451, crown 8vo, later Sangorski
& Sutcliffe full crushed green morocco, single
gilt fillet border to both boards, light mark to
lower board, backstrip decorated and lettered
direct in gilt with five raised bands and a little
faded, a.e.g., green endpapers with bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Smith 5; Cagle
A5a1)
£8,000
Inscribed by the author to the flyleaf: ‘To Hugh Clifford, With the author’s most friendly
regards. Pent Farm 1900’. Clifford was a colonial governer stationed in Malaya, and an
author whose literary circle included the eminent figure of Conrad. Conrad had met
Clifford in 1899, and would later dedicate ‘Chance’ to him.
The inscription dates from Conrad’s years at Pent Farm (1898-1902), whose previous
inhabitant had been Ford Madox Hueffer.
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blackwell’S rare books
23.
Conrad (Joseph) The Mirror of the Sea. Memories and Impressions. Methuen, 1906,
FIRST EDITION , title-page printed in black and red, scattered light foxing, pp. viii, 306,
[40, ads dated August 1906], crown 8vo, original green cloth, backstrip lettered
and decorated in gilt, rubbing to extremities, t.e.g., others untrimmed, a few small
foxspots to endpapers with minor offsetting from adhesive tape to free endpapers,
contemporary ownership inscription to flyleaf with later bookplate tipped in to
same, good (Smith 12; Cagle A11a(a))
£300
24.
Conrad (Joseph) The Nigger of the “Narcissus”. A Tale of the Sea. Heinemann, 1898,
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION , occasional light foxing and one instance of pencil annotation,
pp. [vi], 259, [16, ads], crown 8vo, original slate-grey cloth, stamped in gilt to upper
board, backstrip lettered in gilt, top corners a little bumped, textblock strained
in a couple of places, edges untrimmed and toned with dustsoiling to top edge,
free endpapers browned with bookplate to flyleaf, good (Smith 3; Wise p.3; Cagle
A3c1(a)) £500
Published in America as The Children of the Sea.
25.
Conrad (Joseph) Nostromo. A Tale of the Seaboard. London & New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1904, FIRST EDITION , foxing to prelims with occasional foxspots to
text, pp. [viii], 480, crown 8vo, original blue cloth stamped in light blue to upper
board, backstrip a shade darkened and lettered in gilt with decorations in light blue,
some light rubbing with a few marks to upper board, a little spotting to edges and
endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf with bookseller stamp at foot of the same,
good (Smith 11; Wise p.10; Cagle A10a1)
£600
One of 2,000 copies in the first edition, with the first issue features described by Smith
(e.g., p. 187 numbered as 871).
26.
Conrad (Joseph) An Outcast of the Islands. Fisher Unwin, 1896, FIRST EDITION ,
title-page printed in red and black, one or two faint foxspots to prelims, a tiny brown
liquid stain towards gutter of pp.46-7, a few handling marks, pp. [vii], 391, crown
8vo, original dark green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt with a couple of nicks at tips,
slight lean to spine, t.e.g., others untrimmed, endpapers lightly browned in places,
bookplates to flyleaf and to pastedown with bookseller’s blind stamp to former, good
(Smith 2: Cagle A2a1)
£950
The author’s second book.
27.
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Conrad (Joseph) The Rescue. A Romance of the Shallows. Dent, 1920, FIRST ENGLISH
TRADE EDITION , a single foxspot at head of prelims, pp. 416, crown 8vo, original
green cloth with publisher’s device and border blind-stamped to upper board with
small spot of gilt to lower corner of border, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge a trifle
dustsoiled, tail edge roughtrimmed, rear free endpaper lightly browned, bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with light browning to rear panel, some creasing
overall and a couple of closed tears around foot, very good (Smith 23)
£220
MODERNISMS
28.
Conrad (Joseph) The Rover. Fisher Unwin, 1923, FIRST
ENGLISH EDITION , issue with ‘g’ lacking from the word ‘go’
in line 2 of p. 221, pp.318, crown 8vo, original green fine
ribbed cloth stamped in gilt to front, bump to top and tail
edge of upper board, backstrip lettered and bordered in
green, partial light free endpaper browning, bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket very bright with just a few
small nicks, very good (Smith 25; Wise p. 47)
£250
The colour used for the lettering on the backstrip varies from
any copies described in the bibliographies where, as one might
expect, it is consistent with the gilt lettering used on the front.
29.
An unrecorded variant binding of this classic
Conrad tale
Conrad (Joseph) The Secret Agent. A Simple Tale.
Methuen, 1907, FIRST EDITION , a few pencil marks
and light foxing to prelims, very occasional light
creasing to page-corners and some faint handling
marks, pp. [vi], 442, 40 [ads, dated September
1907], crown 8vo, original[?] navy cloth with
blind-stamped decorative border to both boards,
edges rubbed with a spot of wear to corners,
backstrip lettered in gilt above blind-stamped
Art Deco-style design, spine leaning, endpapers
spotted, ownership inscription to flyleaf, traces
of label removed from front pastedown, good
(Smith 13; Cagle A12)
£400
Apparently a variant binding, not recorded in the bibliographies and bearing no relation
to others found in terms of its colouring or design.
30.
Conrad (Joseph) The Secret Agent. A Drama in Three Acts. Privately Printed for
Subscribers Only by T. Werner Laurie, 1923, 107/1,000 COPIES signed by the author,
portrait frontispiece, captioned tissue-guard present, pp. [ix], 185, 8vo, original
quarter cream parchment with grey boards, edges darkened and a little wear to
corners with a bump to tail edge of lower board, backstrip with printed paper label
(spare label tipped in at rear), edges untrimmed and unopened, bookplate tipped in
to flyleaf, dustjacket also with a printed label, backstrip panel a little darkened with
light chipping and a few marks to corners, two small spots of white paint to front
£300
panel, very good (Smith p.112; Cagle A54b)
Dramatised in 1920 and first published in a privately printed edition of about fifty copies
in 1921. The first performance was given in London in November 1922, followed by
publication in its present form in 1923.
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blackwell’S rare books
31.
Conrad (Joseph) A Set of Six. Methuen, 1908, FIRST EDITION , first issue, second state
with the half-title and title-leaves conjugate cancels, pp. [viii], 312, [40, ads dated
February 1908], crown 8vo, original blue cloth stamped in red to upper board,
backstrip lightly faded and lettered in gilt with decorations in the same, a few
faint marks and light rubbing, top edge a little dustsoiled and others lightly toned
with tail edges roughtrimmed, a small amount of adhesive browning to borders of
pastedowns with bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good (Smith 14.2 [variant]; Cagle
A13a2)
£250
The cancel title and half-title pages were inserted to correct the formatting of the list of
Conrad’s publications, which did not originally make clear those books on which the
author had collaborated with Ford M. Hueffer. Smith does not record any copies of the
first issue with a February 1908 publisher’s catalogue at rear, as here.
32.
33.
Conrad (Joseph) The Shadow Line. A Confession. Dent,
1917, FIRST EDITION , a little very faint foxing to prelims, small
chip at the head of two leaves, pp. [vi], 227, 18 [ads], crown
8vo, original green cloth stamped in black to front, small
spot towards fore-edge of upper board, backstrip lettered in
gilt and black with decorations in black, slight lean to spine,
top edge brown, free endpapers browned as usual, dustjacket
with light chipping to corners and tips of backstrip panel,
light handling marks, backstrip panel a shade darkened, very
good (Smith 21; Cagle A21a1)
£1,000
Conrad (Joseph) Suspense. With an Introduction by Richard Curle. Dent, 1925,
FIRST ENGLISH EDITION , frontispiece after a drawing by Muirhead Bone, occasional
light foxing, pp. x, 303, [4, ads], crown 8vo, original maroon fine-ribbed cloth with
publisher’s device and border blind-stamped to upper board, backstrip slightly faded
and lettered in gilt now a little tarnished, slight lean to spine top edge green, others
with light foxing flyleaf with erased ownership inscription and tipped in bookplate,
dustjacket with very light chipping to bottom corners and at foot of backstrip,
lightest of rubbing to extremities, good (Smith 28)
£200
Conrad’s final novel, published posthumously – the English edition post-dating the
American by a single day.
34.
8
Conrad (Joseph) Tales of Hearsay. With a Preface by R.B. Cunninghame Graham.
Fisher Unwin, 1925, FIRST EDITION , very faint foxing to prelims with one or two faint
spots to text and the occasional handling mark, pp. 288, crown 8vo, original green
cloth stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt and a little tarnished,
light toning to edges, free endpapers with usual partial browning and a couple
of adhesive spots, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket very bright with just a
couple of nicks, very good (Smith 27)
£250
MODERNISMS
35.
36.
Conrad (Joseph) Tales of Unrest. Fisher Unwin, 1898, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION , titlepage printed in black and red, page number fully present on p.36, pp. [viii], 298, [14,
ads], crown 8vo, original dark green cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, light rubbing to
extremities and some faint scuffing to boards, t.e.g., others untrimmed, bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Smith 4)
£800
With a signed holograph quotation laid in
Conrad (Joseph) Twixt Land & Sea. Tales. A
Smile of Fortune, The Secret Sharer, Freya of
the Seven Isles. Dent., 1912, FIRST EDITION ,
title-page printed in black and red, a little
light foxing to prelims and the occasional
foxspot to text, a couple of brief pencil notes
to margin in opening pages, pp.viii, 264,
crown 8vo, original green cloth stamped in
black to upper board with blind-stamped
border, a few small white marks, backstrip
a little crooked and lettered in gilt with a
small nick at head, top edge brown, very light browning to free endpapers, rear free
endpaper slightly adhering to pastedown at gutter, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
good (Smith 17(3); Cagle A16a1(c))
£500
In the third of the 3 variant bindings recorded by Smith, with the final story titled
correctly on the upper board.
With Conrad’s signature beneath a holograph quotation from ‘The Smile of Fortune’ laid
in at front, on a card sometime folded and lightly spotted.
37.
Conrad (Joseph) Typhoon and Other Stories. Heinemann, 1903, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION , a few spots to prelims with one or two faint foxspots to text, two small
pencil marks, pp. [vi], 304, [32], crown 8vo, original slate cloth stamped in gilt to
upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt with a short closed tear at head, and rubbing
at tips, slight lean to spine, dried adhesive stain to gutter of front endpapers with
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf and erased ownership inscription to the same, rear
endpapers foxed, good (Smith 9; Cagle A8b1(b))
£400
The second of the two bindings described by Cagle, with all edges trimmed.
38.
Conrad (Joseph) Under Western Eyes. Methuen, 1911, FIRST EDITION , pp. [vi],
377, [32, ads dated August 1911], crown 8vo, original red cloth with light soiling,
backstrip lettered in gilt and slightly faded with joints a little rubbed, edges toned
with one or two spots, tail edge roughtrimmed, rear hinge strained, very slight
scuffing to front pastedown where bookticket has been removed, bookplate to flyleaf
and pastedown, good (Smith 15; Cagle A14a1)
£150
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39.
Conrad (Joseph) Victory. An Island Tale. Methuen, 1915, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION ,
a single foxspot at head of prelims, pp. viii, 415, [4, ads dated Autumn,1915], [32,
publisher’s list dated 8/5/15], crown 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered and
decorated in gilt with a few faint spots and gentle fading, top edge lightly dustsoiled,
some offsetting from adhesive tape to free endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
very good (Smith 20; Cagle A19b1)
£200
Includes an Author’s Note not featured in the American edition, published six months
earlier.
40.
Conrad (Joseph) Within the Tides. Tales. Dent, 1915, FIRST EDITION , title-page
printed in black and red, a single foxspot at the head of a few pages, light creasing to
the top corner of a few of the final leaves, pp. [viii], 280, crown 8vo, original green
cloth with publisher’s device and border blind-stamped to upper board, backstrip
lettered in gilt, a little light wear at extremities, top edge blue-green, usual partial
browning to endpapers, rear hinge starting to strain, bookplate to flyleaf and to
pastedown, good (Smith 19)
£120
41.
Conrad (Joseph) Youth: A Narrative. And Two Other Stories. Edinburgh & London:
William Blackwood, 1902, FIRST EDITION , one or two small foxspots to text and
the odd handling mark, pp. [vii], 375, [32, first state ads dated 10/02], crown
8vo, original green cloth stamped in black to upper board with floral decoration,
backstrip lettered in gilt and decorated in black with a little rubbing and a small
black mark above the author’s name, cloth a little grubby with brighter panel at foot
of upper board (probably where library label has been removed, but no other library
markings), fore-edges of boards a little crooked, rubbing to extremities, bookplate to
flyleaf, good (Smith 8)
£600
The two other stories are ‘The End of the Tether’ and ‘Heart of Darkness’ – the latter a
modern classic, appearing in book form for the first time here.
42.
Cummings (E.E.) 50 Poems. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, [1940], FIRST
EDITION , 88/150 COPIES , leaves: [4], 52, crown 8vo, original fawn cloth, backstrip gilt
lettered, gilt lettered large maroon leather label on the front cover, yellowing to the
endpaper gutters, untrimmed, glassine-jacket, matching cloth slipcase and leather
label, an unusually nice copy, near fine £800
Signed by the author on the front free endpaper.
43.
10
‘Is it true my daughter knows a Negro?’
Cunard (Nancy) Black Man and White Ladyship. An Anniversary. Privately Printed,
1931, second printing, erratum slip printed in red tipped-in to p. 7, pp. 11, 8vo,
original stapled pink wrappers lettered in black, a little fading around spine and
creasing to corners, gift inscription in pencil inside front cover, good £400
MODERNISMS
Cunard’s impassioned and thoughtful dissection of the attitudes, actions, and words of
her mother (and by extension the social group to which she belongs) grew directly from
incidents around her own relationship with the jazz musician Henry Crowder, but goes
beyond the merely personal to examine ‘the colour question’ as part of a much larger
picture of Anglo-American society.
44.
Inscribed by Nancy Cunard to
French surrealist writer Georges
Sadoul
Cunard (Nancy, et al.) Grand Man.
Memories of Norman Douglas.
With Extracts from his Letters,
and Appreciations by Kenneth
Macpherson, Harold Acton, Arthur
Johnson, charles Duff, and Victor
Cunard, and a Biographical Note
by Cecil Woolf. Secker & Warburg,
1954, FIRST EDITION , frontispiece
photograph of Douglas and 8 further
plates, a handful of foxspots to inside border of half-title and title-page, pp. xviii,
317, 8vo, original brown cloth with light rubbing to tail-edges and corners, backstrip
lettered in gilt, light foxing to edges with top edge a little dustsoiled, endpapers
browned, dustjacket with a few spots of internal tape repair, a few short closed tears,
£350
a little chipping to extremities, a waterstain to backstrip panel, good Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf, to the French surrealist and film writer Georges
Sadoul: ‘Au bien cher et grand ami Georges Sadoul, cet effort “pour servir à une partie
de l’histoire de notre temps.” Nancy Cunard. Londres, 9 Dec, 1954’. Sadoul (1904-67),
as the inscription would imply, was one of Cunard’s closest Parisian friends – it was he
who found the premises for her Hours Press on the Left Bank, as well as working there ‘as
a rather elastic secretary and general factotum’ ( These Were The Hours, p. 75); he also
contributed an article on colonial stereotypes in French children’s literature to her ‘Negro
Anthology’, but as a writer came to be best remembered for his voluminous writings on
the history of cinema. Either Sadoul or Cunard has amended in blue ink the typographical
error that omits the last letter of his name in the author’s biography on the rear flap.
45.
46.
Davidson (John) A Selection of his Poems. Preface by T.S. Eliot. Edited with an
introduction by Maurice Lindsay, and with an essay by Hugh McDiarmid [sic].
Hutchinson, 1961, FIRST EDITION , frontispiece portrait by Sickert, pp. [xxii], 220,
crown 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip lettered in silver with red decorations, top
edge red, dustjacket with a little nick to top corner of upper board, near fine £45
Inscribed ‘A René et à Georgette Magritte’
Dumont (Fernand) La Région du Coeur. Mons: Groupe Surréaliste en Hainaut 1939,
FIRST EDITION , 140/200 COPIES (of an edition of 213 copies), pp. [viii], 72, 24mo,
original white wrappers with image to front and lettered in black, lightly soiled overall
11
blackwell’S rare books
with rubbing along edges and particularly
to joints, backstrip lettered in black with
a little chipping at tips and a small section
starting to detach at foot, split to lower
quarter of front joint, good £1,200
A presentation copy inscribed by the author
to fellow Belgian surrealist René Magritte
and his wife Georgette, ‘De tout coeur, le
3 décembre 1939’. Dumont, a pseudonym
of Fernand Demoustier adopted in honour
of his home town of Mons, died in the
concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in 1945.
47.
Eliot (T.S.) After Strange Gods. A Primer of Modern Heresy. The Page-Barbour
Lectures at the University of Virginia. Faber and Faber, 1934, FIRST EDITION , a few
unobtrusive pencil marks to margins, pp. 68, 8vo, original black cloth, backstrip
lettered in gilt, a little dustsoiling to top edge, other edges untrimmed, a couple
of small adhesive spots to free endpapers with bookplate to flyleaf, dustjacket,
darkened backstrip panel with a few nicks along edges and a short closed tear at foot
£200
of rear flap-fold, very good (Gallup A25a)
A notorious work, primarily because of the reference to the undesirability of ‘freethinking jews’ on p. 20 – it was never reprinted, and disavowed by the author in probable
recognition of the misconception that results in its awkward tenor.
48.
Eliot (T.S.) Ash Wednesday. Faber and Faber, 1930, FIRST TRADE EDITION , light
toning to page borders, pp. 21, foolscap 8vo, original terracotta cloth stamped in
gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt with a touch of fading to tips, small
water-stain at head of upper board and bump to tail-edge of lower, t.e.g., others
untrimmed, a few small adhesive marks to free endpapers with bookplate tipped
in to flyleaf, dustjacket with darkened backstrip panel, a few chips and short closed
tears and some light scuffing at edge of front panel, very good (Gallup A15b) £150
49.
Eliot (T.S.) Charles Whibley. A Memoir [The English Association, Pamphlet No. 80.]
Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931, FIRST EDITION , pp. 13, [3], 8vo,
original sewn printed wrappers, toned to borders, bookplate to inside cover, very
good (Gallup A20a
£50
50.
Eliot (T.S.) The Cocktail Party. A Comedy. Faber and Faber, 1950, FIRST EDITION ,
second issue with ‘here’ corrected to ‘her’ on first line of p. 29, a small amount of
pencil underlining towards end of text, pp. 168, [3], 8vo, original green cloth with
a small bubble at the head of upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, free endpapers
lightly foxed, dustjacket with backstrip panel a trifle faded and a few small nicks,
very good (Gallup A55a)
£40
12
MODERNISMS
51.
Eliot (T.S.) Dante. [The Poets on The Poets – No. 2.] Faber and Faber, 1929, FIRST
EDITION , pp. 69, foolscap 8vo, original boards repeating Rex Whistler dustjacket
design on upper board, backstrip lettered in black, slight lean to spine, top edge blue,
others untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, first issue dustjacket with darkened
backstrip panel, very good (Gallup A13a)
£250
A splendid copy of one of Eliot’s most celebrated essays, in the first issue dustjacket
(without reviews).
52.
Eliot (T.S.) The Dry Salvages. Faber and Faber,
1941, FIRST EDITION , pp. 16, 8vo, original printed
pale blue-grey stapled wrappers, spine faded,
untrimmed, good (Gallup A39)
£2,500
Anne Ridler’s copy, gifted to her by Eliot and
inscribed by him on the half-title at the time of
publication, ‘to Anne Ridler from T.S. Eliot Sep.
1941’. Anne Ridler has pencilled through ‘hermit’
(hermit crab) and placed in the margin ‘horse-shoe/’.
53.
Eliot (T.S.) Eeldrop and Appleplex. Tunbridge Wells: The Foundling Press, 1992,
FIRST SEPARATE EDITION , 144/150 COPIES printed on mouldmade paper at the Rampant
Lions Press, decorations and initial letters printed in green, pp. [iv], 11, 8vo, original
grey wrappers printed in green and black, edges untrimmed, fine £35
Originally printed in the May and September issues of The Little Review in 1917, this
experiment in prose fiction by Eliot is unique amongst his oeuvre; somewhat in the vein of
Flaubert’s Bouvard et Pécuchet , the work’s protagonists have been regarded as depictions
of himself (‘a sceptic, with a taste for mysticism’) and Ezra Pound (‘a materialist with a
leaning towards scepticism’).
54.
Eliot (T.S.) The Elder Statesman. A Play. Faber and Faber, 1959, FIRST EDITION , pp.
108, [1], 8vo, original red cloth with nick to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, a
little light foxing to top edge, panels of faint browning to free endpapers, dustjacket
with backstrip panel a little faded, very good (Gallup A70a)
£35
55.
Eliot (T.S.) Ezra Pound. His Metric and
Poetry. New York: Knopf, 1917 [but
1918,] FIRST EDITION , frontispiece portrait
of Pound by Gaudier-Brzeska, pp. 31,
crown 8vo, original red boards lettered in
gilt to upper board, light fading around
backstrip, tipped-in bookplate and
erased ownership inscription to flyleaf,
a few small foxspots to rear endpapers,
13
blackwell’S rare books
original plain dustjacket with light dustsoiling and a few very small marks, chipped
to corners and along backstrip panel with some tears and creasing, very good
£700
(Gallup A2)
The author’s second book, and very scarce in the dustjacket. Published anonymously
in an edition of 1,000 copies, Gallup notes that Pound made corrections and changes
before sending it on to John Quinn for publication by Knopf. Quinn, a New York lawyer
and important patron of modernist authors, had subsidised the publication of this
and Pound’s Lustra – the collection that it was written to publicise. As a purely literary
transaction, Eliot’s short but thorough critical appreciation of Pound’s influences and
innovations was a reciprocal gesture for Pound’s eagerness to, as he put it, ‘boom Eliot’
during their first years of contact.
56.
Eliot (T.S.) The Family Reunion. A Play. Faber and Faber, 1939, FIRST EDITION , pp. 136,
8vo, original grey cloth, backstrip lettered in red, slight lean to spine and toning to
borders, top edge lightly dustsoiled with tail and fore-edge roughtrimmed, first issue
dustjacket with backstrip panel a little darkened, very good (Gallup A33a)
£80
57.
Eliot (T.S.) For Lancelot Andrewes. Essays on Style and Order. Faber and Faber, 1928,
FIRST EDITION , initial blank and verso of final page partly browned as usual, pp.143,
crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip with printed label and a single spot of
fading through hole in dustjacket, edges untrimmed with a little dustsoiling to top
edge, contemporary ownership inscription in pencil to flyleaf and bookplate tipped
in to pastedown, dustjacket with design by Bawden, backstrip panel darkened with
light chipping at tips, very good (Gallup A12a)
£180
58.
Eliot (T.S.) Four Quartets [East Coker; Burnt Norton; The Dry Salvages (2 copies);
Little Gidding.] Faber and Faber, 1940- 1942, FIRST SEPARATE FABER EDITIONS , some
foxing to ‘East Coker’ and ‘Burnt Norton’ with a small amount of pen underlining to
the former, pp. 15; 15; 15 (2 copies); 16, 8vo, original card wrappers lettered in black
to front, some toning, light creasing and a few small marks, each protected within
folded grey card and slipcase, good (Gallup A36c; A37; A39; A42)
£400
‘East Coker’ first appeared, in two editions, as a supplement to the New English Weekly in
Easter of 1940; ‘Burnt Norton’ had been included in Eliot’s Collected Poems from 1936;
the latter two poems from the sequence are here in their first edition, with ‘Little Gidding’
in the earlier sewn binding.
59.
14
Eliot (T.S.) Four Quartets. [Printed at the Officina Bodoni for] Faber and Faber,
1960, 140/290 COPIES signed by the author, printed on Magnani paper using the
Dante typeface, pp. [iv] (blanks), 56, [4] (blanks), sm.folio, original quarter cream
vellum, backstrip gilt lettered, green and yellow Putois marbled boards, t.e.g., others
untrimmed, matching marbled board slipcase rubbed and defective as usual, near
fine (Mardersteig 119: Gallup T.S. Eliot: a Bibliography A43c)
£2,700
MODERNISMS
60.
Inscribed by the author for his French publisher
Eliot (T.S.) Meurtre dans la Cathédrale. Traduit de
l’anglais et présenté par Henri Fluchère. Paris: Éditions de
Seuil, 1946, ADVANCE REVIEW COPY, pages lightly toned,
pp. 140, [1], original white wrappers printed in grey
and black, backstrip lettered in black and white against
a lightly faded grey ground, a couple of light marks to
rear and very short split at foot of upper joint, very good
(Gallup D85)
£450
The first work of Eliot’s to be published in book-form in
French, Fluchère’s translation was published by Neuchâtel
in 1943 before being taken on by Éditions de Seuil in their
‘Pierres Vives’ series. This advance review copy [a perforated
‘S.P.’ (Service de Presse) stamp to rear cover and last few leaves identifying it as such]
is inscribed by the translator on the half-title, dated 15.6.46, and by the author on the
title-page for the founder of Éditions de Seuil: ‘Inscribed for Henri Sjöberg by T.S. Eliot
(en souvenir de Stockholm 1942).’ Eliot had been in Stockholm in 1942 on behalf of the
British Council, to which visit his inscription presumably relates.
61.
Eliot (T.S.) Murder in the Cathedral. Faber and Faber, 1935, FIRST COMPLETE EDITION ,
pp. 87, 8vo, original purple cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, very slight lean to
spine, small patch of foxing to pastedowns and one or two spots to free endpapers,
dustjacket a little rubbed and creased, very good (Gallup A29b)
£150
62.
Eliot (T.S.) Murder in the Cathedral. Acting edition for the Festival of the Friends of
Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury: H.J. Goulden, 1935, FIRST EDITION , pp. [ii], 38,
foolscap 8vo, original printed wrappers, a couple of small marks to top and tail edge
of textblock, custom box, near fine (Gallup A29a)
£500
A near-pristine copy of one of only 750 copies of the first edition, for sale at performances
of the play in Canterbury Cathedral – the production used a shorter version of the text to
that published by Faber later in the year. This is the only printing of the text in this form.
63.
Eliot (T.S.) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Faber and Faber, 1939, FIRST
EDITION , pp. 45, 8vo, original yellow cloth with illustration by author stamped in
red to upper board, some light dustsoiling to edges, backstrip lettered in red, edges
untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to pastedown, contemporary gift inscription to
flyleaf and a few faint spots and handling marks to the same, dustjacket price-clipped
and somewhat rubbed overall, darkened backstrip panel with a little splitting to rear
fold, chipping to corners and edges, good (Gallup A34a)
£450
64.
Eliot (T.S.) Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Nicolas Bentley drew the pictures.
Faber and Faber, 1940, FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION , 14 colourprinted plates and
further line-drawings in the text by Nicolas Bentley, pp. 51, 8vo, original cream cloth
15
blackwell’S rare books
Items 63 and 64
with Bentley illustration in colour stamped to upper board, backstrip lettered in red
with slight lean to spine, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly toned and
spotted, light dustsoiling overall with a couple of short closed tears and a few nicks
around head, very good (Gallup A34c)
£450
65.
Eliot (T.S.) Poems 1909-1925. Faber & Gwyer, 1925, FIRST EDITION , small ink-spot
at foot of half-title and half-title, one or two small foxspots to the same, pp. [ii],
99, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip very slightly faded with printed paper
label a little browned, slight fading at head of lower board, free endpapers with
marks from adhesive tape, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, ownership stamp of Philip
Gaskell (Librarian at Trinity College, Cambridge) to front pastedown, very good
(Gallup A8a)
£300
Notable as the first printing of ‘The Waste Land’ to include the dedication to Ezra Pound.
66.
Eliot (T.S.) A Presidential Address to the Members of The London Library. Printed for
The London Library by the Queen Anne Press, 1952, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 500 COPIES ,
pp. [8], crown 8vo, original sewn wrappers printed in red and black, a little fading
around folds, bookplate tipped in to inside cover, very good (Gallup A59a)
£40
67.
Eliot (T.S.) The Rock. A Pageant Play written for performance at Sadler’s Wells
Theatre 28 May – 9 June 1934 on behalf of the Forty-Five Churches Fund of the
Diocese of London. Faber and Faber, 1934, FIRST EDITION , pp. 86, crown 8vo, original
grey wrappers printed in black, edges toned, ownership inscription to flyleaf, very
good (Gallup A26a)
£120
One of 2,000 copies in this binding from the first edition.
16
MODERNISMS
68.
Eliot (T.S.) Selected Essays, 1917-1932. Faber and Faber, 1932, FIRST EDITION , pp.
454, 8vo, original brown cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt with just a hint of fading
at tips, top edge a little dustsoiled, others roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped in to
pastedown, dustjacket with backstrip panel a trifle darkened, light rubbing to
extremities with some chipping to corners and head of backstrip panel, very good
(Gallup A21a)
£275
With original Faber mailing card laid in at front.
69.
Eliot (T.S.) Sweeney Agonistes. Fragments of an Aristophanic Melodrama. Faber
and Faber, 1932, FIRST EDITION , pp. 31, foolscap 8vo, original blue boards, backstrip
lettered in red and lightly faded, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with light
overall dustsoiling, a small nick at head of backstrip panel with a little creasing, very
good (Gallup A23)
£140
70.
Eliot (T.S.) Thoughts After Lambeth. [Criterion Miscellany No. 30.] Faber and Faber,
1931, FIRST EDITION , pp. 32, foolscap 8vo, original sewn wrappers over stiff card, very
slight rubbing to extremities, bookplate tipped in to inside front cover, very good
(Gallup A18)
£45
With pamphlet advertising the Criterion Miscellany series laid in at front.
71.
Eliot (T.S.) The Waste Land. Hogarth Press, 1922, FIRST
ENGLISH EDITION , a little faint foxing, pp. 35, [1], crown 8vo,
original blue marbled boards with printed label to upper
board lightly browned, a few faint marks, rubbing to edges
and light wear to corners, backstrip lightly faded with slight
lean to spine and chipping at head, a little cracking along
joints, edges untrimmed, bookplate to front pastedown with
a little faint foxing to endpapers, very good £5,000
The printed label is in the 2nd of the 3 states described by
Gallup, with horizontal rules either side of the title and author
information. A beautiful example of this modernist calling-card.
72.
Inscribed by T.S. Eliot for Emily Hale
(Eliot.) THE EIGHTEEN - EIGHTIES . Essays by Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature.
Edited by Walter de la Mare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930, FIRST
EDITION , occasional library stamps to pages, pp. xxviii, 271, 8vo, original green cloth
stamped in gilt to front, backstrip lettered in gilt with shadow of previous library
label, a few spots of cloth removal and scuffing to lower board, library labels (Leila
Dilworth Jones Memorial Library, Connecticut) to pastedowns, dustjacket with a
couple of nicks and some light chipping at head of backstrip, top corners and rear
panel, good £10,000
17
blackwell’S rare books
The biography of T.S. Eliot is
characterised by three important
loves, all of which affected his life
and work in very different ways: his
first marriage to Vivien[ne] HaighWood was a desperately unhappy
arrangement, during and after which
Eliot agonised and despaired over his
decisions; his second marriage, to
Valerie Fletcher, was an altogether
happier affair that brought him
contentment and stability in the latter
phase of his life. Before and between
both of these relationships came Emily
Hale – a childhood friend of his cousin
Eleanor Hinkley, whom Eliot first met
at family gatherings in his youth.
Possibly emboldened by news of the disintegration of his first marriage, Hale – as
Lyndall Gordon describes it, in her biography of Eliot that deals extensively with Hale
in its second volume – re-established contact with Eliot in 1927, ostensibly to ask for his
literary guidance in relation to her present teaching post, and by the late twenties they had
become regular correspondents with numerous visits taking place on both sides of the
Atlantic. One feature of their relationship that Gordon notes is his making a gift to Hale of
each of his publications as they appeared – Gordon has this beginning with ‘Shakespeare
and the Stoicism of Seneca’ in 1927, but at least one earlier publication exists that bears an
inscription from Eliot to Hale [‘Ara Vus Prec’, with an inscription dated to 1923, sold at
Sotheby’s in 2011]. The majority of these were bequeathed by Hale to various institutions
– Harvard, Princeton, and Scripps College – for reasons of necessity or in response to a
turn in their relationship.
This book has Emily Hale’s holograph bookplate on the front pastedown, stating ‘This
book belongs to Miss Emily Hale, Abbot Academy, Andover’, and so is likely to have been
jettisoned by Hale following her retirement from that institution in 1957. This was in the
same year that Eliot, to her surprise, married for the second time – a break that proved
decisive and terminal, removing once and for all the mutually cherished possibility of
their friendship becoming a romance. Despite the abundance of possible material – as
well as his printed works, and their voluminous correspondence (his estate’s embargo on
Eliot’s letters to her will be removed in 2020), Hale’s bequests show her to have been the
recipient of much work in manuscript and draft form – very little has come up for sale;
indeed, the above-mentioned copy of ‘Ara Vus Prec’ is unique among auctions.
Eliot’s essay, ‘The Place of Pater’ [pp. 96-106], appears here for the first time – it was later
retitled ‘Arnold and Pater’ – and ranks amongst his finest critical work. In terms of the
gifts he made to Hale, it belongs very much in the category of her appeal to his literary
authority by which their relationship experienced its rekindling, and dates from that
first flush of their renewed contact. Hale’s bookplate, and its subsequent fate as a library
copy at Hale’s own ‘alma mater’ (Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, Connecticut) in the
seventies, supply further biographical reference points. In terms of the emotional life of
the poet, there is no more significant association than the one to which this inscription
refers.
18
MODERNISMS
73.
(Eliot.) PERSE (St.-J.) Anabasis. With a Translation into English by T.S. Eliot. Faber
and Faber, 1930, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH , 199/350 COPIES signed by the translator,
pp. 75, royal 8vo, original green cloth lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip, a
couple of faint marks to cloth, t.e.g., others untrimmed, free endpapers browned as
usual, original glassine jacket with chipping and loss at foot of rear panel, slipcase
soiled and worn, very good (Gallup A16b)
£325
Eliot also provides a 5-page Preface to his translation, which was made in collaboration
with the author.
74.
(Eliot.) R AINE (Kathleen) Defining the Times. Essays on Auden & Eliot. Enitharmon
Press, 2002, FIRST EDITION , 30/90 COPIES (of an edition of 110 copies) signed by
the author, title-page and fly-titles printed in black and purple, pp. 48, royal 8vo,
original orange and green patterned wrappers with paper label printed in black to
£45
front, fine 75.
(Eliot.) RIDLER (Anne) Working for T.S. Eliot. A Personal Reminiscence. Enitharmon
Press, 2000, XXIV/XXV hors commerce copies signed by the author, printed on
125gsm Canaletto paper, title-page printed in black and red, pp. 14, royal 8vo,
original patterned wrappers with printed label to front, fine £80
76.
Faulkner (William) Absalom, Absalom! New York: Random House, 1936, FIRST
EDITION , folded map tipped in at rear, this and the title-page printed in black and red,
pp. 384, 8vo, original black cloth with five horizontal rules in red, author’s signature
in gilt to upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge red, bookplate tipped in to
flyleaf, dustjacket with mild toning to backstrip panel, light rubbing to extremities
and a few short closed tears, very good £2,500
77.
Faulkner (William) Go Down, Moses and Other Stories. New York: Random House,
1942, FIRST EDITION , occasional light handling marks, pp, [viii], 383, 8vo, original
black cloth stamped in gilt to upper board with horizontal rule in red, backstrip
lettered in gilt with five horizontal rules in red, a few faint speckles to cloth, top
edge red, a small amount of browning to gutter of front endpapers, bookplate tipped
in to flyleaf, dustjacket price-clipped and lightly rubbed to extremites with light
dustsoiling to rear panel and a few short closed tears, very good £2,000
In the first issue binding.
78.
Faulkner (William) Light in August. New York: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas,
1932, FIRST EDITION , pp. [iv], 480, 8vo, original tan cloth, backstrip blocked in blue
and orange, the first issue binding with the front cover blocked in orange, very
faint endpaper browning, fore-edges roughtrimmed, the dustjacket in wonderful
condition with just three very tiny tears to the head of the rear panel and one to the
backstrip panel, light blue drop-down-back cloth box with gilt lettered mid blue
morocco labels, near fine £4,000
19
blackwell’S rare books
Item 76
79.
Item 77
Item 78
Faulkner (William) Requiem for a Nun. New York: Random House, [1951,] FIRST
EDITION , 188/750 COPIES signed by the author, title-page printed in black and white
against a grey ground, pp. [vi], 286, crown 8vo, original half black cloth with
marbled boards, top edge grey, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, protective glassine
jacket, near fine £750
80.
Faulkner (William) Requiem for a Nun. Chatto & Windus, 1953, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION , pp. 256, foolscap 8vo, original pale blue boards, gilt lettered backstrip,
faint partial free endpaper browning, dustjacket with a design by Paul Hogarth in
beautiful condition, near fine £100
81.
Faulkner (William) Soldiers’ Pay. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926, FIRST EDITION ,
pp. 319, crown 8vo, original blue cloth stamped in yellow to upper board, backstrip
lettered in yellow with blind-stamped publisher’s device, very slight lean to spine,
small indentation at head of upper board with very light rubbing to extremities,
edges roughtrimmed and a little toned, patterned endpapers with bookplate tipped
in to flyleaf, very good £550
The author’s second book and his first novel, with a first printing of 2,500 copies.
82.
Fitzgerald (F. Scott) Flappers and Philosophers. New York: Scribner’s, 1920, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [viii], 272, crown 8vo, original mid green cloth, tarnished gilt backstrip
lettering faintly readable, front cover blocked in blind, ownership name on front free
£425
endpaper, roughtrimmed, good 83.
Fitzgerald (F. Scott) Preface to This Side of Paradise. Edited by John R. Hopkins.
Iowa City: The Windhover Press and Bruccoli Clark, 1975, ONE OF 150 COPIES ,
20
MODERNISMS
printed on Rives Heavy mould-made paper, tipped-in frontispiece portrait of author
by John Thein, title-page printed in black and red, pp. [11], tall 8vo, original olive
green cloth with printed paper label to upper board, spotting around head of upper
board with a handful of spots elsewhere, very good (Bruccoli A40)
£60
Originally submitted with the novel to Charles Scribner’s Sons, but jettisoned – this is its
first publication.
84.
An inscribed copy of one of the key Imagist texts
Flint (F.S.) Cadences. Poetry Bookshop, [1915,] FIRST EDITION , the title-page (original
cover) illustration by John Nash hand-coloured by Alida Klemantaski and Charlotte
Mew, foxing to opening and ultimate pages with the odd faint spot to head of text,
pp. 31, crown 8vo, contemporary blue buckram stamped in gilt to upper board,
preserving the original binding of stitched illustrated wrappers, a little soiled overall
with a few marks and wear at head of upper board, endpapers browned, good
(Woolmer A13)
£95
Inscribed by the author on the reverse of the title-page, appended to the book’s original
epigraph: ‘[Non canimus surdis], but for Dorothy Fraser Tait. – Nerine Galatea, thymo
mihi dulcior Hyblae,/ Candidior cycnis, hedera formosior alba. F.S. Flint’. The quotation
is from Virgil’s ‘Eclogues’ and translates as ‘Sea-Nymph Galatea, sweeter to me than
the thyme of Hybla, / Whiter than the swan, lovelier than pale ivy’. A very affectionate
inscription for someone with whom Flint would go on to work on a number of
translations from the German.
Flint’s second collection is one of the high-spots of Imagism, indeed one of the few
collections – in a movement whose legacy has far outweighed its durability – that can
lay claim to being Imagist in the true sense, along with Aldington’s ‘Images’, H.D.’s ‘Sea
Garden’ and Pound’s ‘Lustra’.
Woolmer records having seen two presentation bindings of this book, inscribed to
Harold Monro and Edward Marsh and notes that Aldington requested a couple more;
this copy differs to those in terms of the materials used but, given Monro’s tendency to
keep his publications in sheets, variant bindings abound – and it is possible that the cloth
binding here is original.
85.
Forster (E.M.) Abinger Harvest. Edward Arnold, 1936, FIRST EDITION , first issue
with pages 277-82 in uncancelled state, pp.viii, 351, 8vo, original dark blue cloth,
backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge blue, other edges lightly toned, small amount of
browning to free endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with very light
dustsoiling, near fine (Kirkpatrick A18a)
£500
The first issue, with the article ‘A Flood in the Office’ present. The inclusion of the
article brought about a libel action; the publisher’s unsold copies and those returned by
booksellers were re-issued with the offending material removed and a cancel inserted.
21
blackwell’S rare books
86.
A letter to the artist, requesting to buy his portrait
Forster (E.M.) ALS to Colin Spencer. July 20th 1960,
written in black ink on both sides of a folded single
sheet of King’s College, Cambridge headed paper,
pp. [2], in original envelope with holograph note
in ink: ‘I am told Jasper Rose is the authority for
exhibitions here’, very good £350
Forster writes to the artist Colin Spencer to let him
know that Mrs Meredith (possibly the wife of his old
Cambridge friend, Hugh Meredith) has decided not
to buy the portrait of Forster, but ‘if you have no other
intentions for it, I should very much like to have it
myself (at the price named in your letter)’. Forster is
evidently very taken with Spencer’s rendering, regarding
his face as having been ‘glorified and transfigured’. The
letter is signed, ‘With all good wishes – and I hope you
have solved the studio problem, Morgan’.
87.
Forster (E.M.) England’s Pleasant Land. A Pageant Play. Hogarth Press, 1940,
FIRST EDITION , pp. 80, foolscap 8vo, original orange cloth, backstrip lettered in
green, free endpapers with usual partial browning, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
dustjacket with backstrip panel a little dulled and light overall dustsoiling, very good
(Kirkpatrick A22; Woolmer 466)
£60
88.
Forster (E.M.) The Hill of Devi. Edward Arnold, 1953, FIRST EDITION , photographic
frontispiece and 6 plates, pp. [viii], 176, 8vo, original grey cloth, backstrip lettered in
red with author’s signature stamped in red to front board, dustjacket with very minor
rubbing to extremities and light soiling, very good £40
89.
Forster (E.M.) A Passage to India. Edward Arnold,
1924, FIRST EDITION , pp.325, [3, ads], crown 8vo,
original maroon cloth stamped in black to upper board,
backstrip lettered in black and a trifle darkened at foot,
very light browning to rear free endpaper, one or two
tiny spots to edges, tail edge roughtrimmed, bookplate
of H. Bradley Martin to pastedown with later bookplate
tipped in to flyleaf, custom box, near fine (Kirkpatrick
A10a)
£1,200
Bradley Martin’s copy of Forster’s lauded novel.
90.
22
Forster (E.M.) Two Cheers for Democracy. Edward Arnold, 1951, FIRST EDITION ,
pp.371, 8vo, original dark blue cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge maroon, a
few foxspots to fore-edge, endpapers with light adhesive browning, bookplate tipped
in to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few foxspots, very good (Kirkpatrick A28a)
£120
MODERNISMS
91.
Forster (E.M.) Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1905,
FIRST EDITION , pp.[iv], 319, [32, ads], crown
8vo, original blue cloth stamped in black to
upper board, backstrip lettered in gilt with
minimal fading, a few small spots to edges, red
endpapers with bookplates of Michael Sadleir
and H. Bradley Martin to pastedown, another
bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, custom box, near
fine (Kirkpatrick A1a)
£3,500
A beautiful copy of the author’s first book, with
the ads at rear in the first state recorded by
Kirkpatrick: dated 5/05 and without mention of
Forster’s work.
92.
(Forster.) MACAULAY (Rose) The Writings of E.M. Forster. Hogarth Press, 1938, FIRST
EDITION , pp. 304, crown 8vo, original blue cloth, backstrip lettered in black, a single
faint spot to upper joint, top edge a trifle dustsoiled, dustjacket with backstrip panel
a little browned, near fine (Woolmer 434)
£75
93.
Frost (Robert) A Way Out. A One Act Play. New York: The Harbor Press, 1929, FIRST
SEPARATE EDITION , 271/485 COPIES signed by the author at the foot of his preface,
printed on laid paper, decorations to title and fly-title printed in brown, pp. [x], 19,
foolscap 8vo, original quarter black cloth with double wave-rule in gilt and orange
boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, a little soiling around head, dustsoiling to top edge,
edges untrimmed, bookplate detached from pastedown, original tissue jacket with
some chipping and creasing, very good (Crane A11)
£250
94.
Frost (Robert) West-Running Brook. New York: Henry Holt, 1928, 789/1,000
COPIES signed by the author, woodcut frontispiece by J.J. Lankes and 3 further plates
all with tissue-guards and signed by the artist in pencil, pp. viii, 58, 8vo, original
quarter green cloth, with leaf-patterned boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, t.e.g.,
others untrimmed, small patch of browning to flyleaf, original tissue jacket with loss
to backstrip panel, slipcase with printed label and some wear along edges, very good
(Crane A10.1)
£500
95.
Gascoyne (David) A Short Survey of Surrealism. Preface by Dawn Ades. Introduction
by Michael Remy. Enitharmon Press, 2000, FIRST EDITION , 44/50 signed by the
author, pp. 128, crown 8vo, original terracotta cloth with illustration inset to upper
board, backstrip lettered in gilt, fine £160
A signed, limited copy of Enitharmon’s reprint of this seminal work.
23
blackwell’S rare books
96.
Inscribed by Gide to John Lehmann, and from Lehmann to Angus Stewart
Gide (André) Attendu Que... Alger: Charlot, 1943, FIRST EDITION , later printing,
pages toned throughout, pp. 238 [1], 8vo, original wrappers browned and chipped
overall, with portions missing around borders and at either end of backstrip, joints
splitting and scrape across title to front, very fragile but sound £75
A double-presentation copy: the first inscription is from Gide to the author and publisher
John Lehmann, ‘en toute cordialité, Paris Septembre ‘45’; Lehmann has subsequently
inscribed his copy to the author Angus Stewart ‘on the occasion of his marriage – With
love and in the hope that he will live happily ever after – February 1965’. Even allowing
for the occasion of the latter presentation, this is an interesting association copy between
three notable gay authors.
It has been difficult to find evidence to support the fact that Angus Stewart actually
married, but he and Lehmann were part of the same circle in Tangier – making him the
most likely recipient – and the year of the inscription is that in which Stewart won the
Richard Hillary Memorial Prize [to which the inscription perhaps cryptically refers?].
97.
Graves (Robert) The Common Asphodel. Collected Essays on Poetry, 1922-1949.
Hamish Hamilton, 1949, FIRST EDITION , frontispiece drawing, pp. xii, 335, 8vo,
original red cloth with a few small spots, backstrip lettered in gilt with a touch of
fading at tips, slight lean to spine, bookplate to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few tape
repairs along head and foot, a little toned and rubbed overall, a small portion of
loss at foot of rear panel, pen mark to front flap, good (Higginson & Williams
A63)
£20
The selection includes Graves’s essays on modernism, written with Laura Riding.
98.
Graves (Robert) The Feather Bed. Hogarth Press, 1923, FIRST
EDITION , 39/250 COPIES signed by the author on a tipped-in
limitation label, pp. 28, 8vo, original patterned boards with
black paper label to upper board printed in white, untrimmed
and unopened, borders a little faded, rubbing at tips of
backstrip, a small amount of adhesive browning to endpapers,
bookplate tipped in to pastedown, very good (Higginson &
Williams A9; Woolmer 33)
£750
99.
24
Graves (Robert) John Kemp’s Wager: a Ballad Opera. British Drama League Library
of Modern British Drama No.11, Oxford: Blackwell, 1925, FIRST EDITION , 21/100
COPIES printed on Kelmscott handmade paper and signed by the author, pp. xvi,
77, [3] (blanks), 16mo, original white vellum-backed cream boards with an overall
repeat pattern in green, backstrip gilt lettered, tail corners rubbed, book label of
Simon Nowell-Smith, untrimmed and partly unopened, very good (Higginson &
Williams A13a)
£500
MODERNISMS
100. Graves (Robert) Mock Beggar Hall. Hogarth Press, 1924, FIRST EDITION , occasional
faint foxing to preliminary and final few leaves, pp. [iv] (blanks), 80, [4] (adverts),
4to, original dark grey boards, the imposing overall front cover design by William
Nicholson printed in black, Simon Nowell-Smith’s book label, untrimmed, very good
(Higginson & Williams A10: Woolmer 46)
£500
101. Graves (Robert) Welchman’s Hose. Fleuron, 1925, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 525 COPIES ,
8 wood-engravings by Paul Nash, light marginal browning, pp. x, 62, foolscap 8vo,
original black cloth-backed boards, backstrip gilt lettered, white Curwen paper
boards with an overall repeat design by Nash in black, untrimmed, good (Higginson
& Williams A16)
£160
102. (Graves.) APULEIUS (Lucius) The Transformations of Lucius, otherwise Known as
The Golden Ass. Translated by Robert Graves. Penguin, 1951, FIRST GRAVES EDITION ,
1,076/2,000 COPIES signed by Robert Graves, pp. 302, 16mo, original quarter cream
parchment, backstrip lettered in gilt, marbled black and red boards, t.e.g., near fine
(Higginson & Williams A66b)
£90
With two gift inscriptions, and an ALS , from Laura Riding
103. H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] Heliodora. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin &
Company, 1924, FIRST AMERICAN EDITION , pp. 127, crown 8vo, original quarter beige
cloth with blue boards, publisher’s device blind-stamped to upper board, borders
lightly sunned with a little wear at corners, backstrip browned with a touch of wear
at tips and printed paper label a little chipped to borders, edges roughtrimmed and
toned with fraying along upper hinge, good £400
The first American edition consisted of 520 copies, using the English sheets.
Item 103
25
blackwell’S rare books
This was Laura Riding’s copy, of which she twice made a gift: the first inscription, on the
half-title, is to her half-sister Isabel Mayers, ‘Isabel Love Laura, Egypt Bound. Dec. 1925’
– this voyage of course being to join up with Robert Graves and his wife and family, from
which impulsive adventure she became his mistress, muse, and collaborator for a period
of almost fifteen years. In literary terms, this situates it at the origin of one of the most
significant and creatively fruitful conjunctions in the modern era.
The second inscription, on the front pastedown, in playful modification of the first,
reads: ‘Jim Love Laura, here. March 1978’ [this probably being to James F. Mathias] –
the latter being accompanied also by a letter [laid in, in black ink on one side of three
quarter-folded sheets] that explains the original inscription, and how the book came
back into her possession: it had been found at her half-sister and brother-in-law’s house
by his second wife (who had now remarried following his death), and Riding immediately
thought to send it to Jim ‘for a little historical memento’. Riding provides the backstory
to the original inscription: ‘In preparing to act on my accepting of the Graves-Nicholson
invitation’, she distributed her possessions, choosing this to send to her half-sister – ‘[h]
ow the inscription reads of straight up-and-down hastiness of ready-to-go feeling!’
The choice of book is in itself interesting and in some ways not inappropriate, considering
H.D.’s immersion in Egyptian as well as Greek iconography, but also the fact that the
title-poem’s theme is the collaborative relationship between a male and female poet. It
does, however, contradict our understanding of Riding’s opinion of H.D.: in their ‘Survey
of Modernist Poetry’, Graves and Riding reserved special scorn for H.D., whose work
was ‘so thin, so poor’ and notable for ‘its insipidity... its superficiality’, decreeing that her
‘temporary immortality... came to an end so soon that her bluff was never called’ (p. 59).
Here Riding professes an altogether different opinion, stating that ‘I have had a special
attachment to H.D.’s writings. The effort there was to make something genuine of a
mixture of the tragic and the beautiful both artistically[?] conceived of’. An extraordinary
volte-face, and a significant document both of the vigorously denied influence on Riding
of imagism’s high priestess, and – in the circumstances of its original gifting – of her
impetuous coming-together with Robert Graves.
104. H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] Selected Poems. New York: Grove Press, 1957, FIRST EDITION ,
3/50 COPIES signed and dated (‘Küsnacht, Zürich. March 17, 1957’) by the author,
pp. [2], 128, crown 8vo, original quarter brown cloth lettered in gilt to upper board,
backstrip lettered in gilt and slightly dulled, a trifle sunned to borders, very good
(Boughn A25a.i.)
£300
Inscribed to H.E. [Havelock Ellis]
105. H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] The Usual Star. [Dijon]: Privately printed, 1928 [but 1934,]
ONE OF 100 COPIES , ‘privately printed for the author’s friends’, pp. 116, crown 8vo,
original white paper wrappers lettered in black with the lightest of dustsoiling
overall, backstrip lettered in black and a little toned, edges untrimmed, protective
glassine wrapper, very good (Boughn A14)
£900
An exceptionally bright copy of what is itself a very scarce book, made all the more
attractive for the association conveyed by the characteristically spare inscription on
the title page: ‘H.D. to H.E.’ – the latter being the pioneering sexologist Havelock Ellis,
26
MODERNISMS
who became part of H.D. and Bryher’s circle in 1919. In a letter to Ellis [‘Chiron’] from
September 1934, H.D. mentions that ‘I am trying to post you two little prose volumes of
mine that Br. [Bryher] had set up for me as a birthday present [‘The Usual Star’ and ‘Kora
and Ka’]... I do not want you to read these. But it helps me to get them into circulation’.
Initially, the author regarded their manner of publication and distribution as a simple
unclogging (‘I am so blocked with MSS’), but she later – possibly buoyed by feedback from
recipients that had disregarded her directive – developed more affection for what she
came to term her ‘Peter Rabbit books’.
Something of an eternal initiate, H.D. gravitated towards a series of paternal ‘teacher’
figures throughout her life – amongst these, Havelock Ellis played a crucial role in the
development of her thought and experience. Both she and Bryher had consulted him in
1919, and he travelled with them to Greece the following year; his theories affirmed and
explained certain aspects of their complex sexual identities, whilst his own proclivities –
most salaciously, his urolagnia – were satisfied in return. In time, although they remained
on good terms until his death in 1938, his authoritative position in her affections would
come to be supplanted by her more lasting interest in the theories, techniques and
charisma of Sigmund Freud – in fact, it was armed with a letter of introduction from Ellis
that Bryher had first approached Freud in 1927, from which encounter arrangements for
H.D.’s analysis with him ensued.
The place and date given on the title-page [London, 1928] refer to the story’s setting, not
its publication – the details of which are given in a statement at the rear. The section-title
for the second story in this volume [‘The Two Americans’, p. 91ff] carries an equivalent
designation [Vaud, 1930].
Inscribed to Gordon Bottomley
106. H.D. [Hilda Doolittle] The Walls Do Not Fall. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1944, FIRST EDITION , pp. 48, crown 8vo, original tan wrappers printed in black and
brown with light dustsoiling overall, corners a little turned-in, a few small foxspots
to edges, bookplate [‘From the Emily & Gordon Bottomley Bequest’] to pastedown,
very good (Boughn A19.a.i.)
£350
The first part of H.D.’s Second World War sequence ‘Trilogy’, inscribed by H.D. a few
days after publication ‘to Gordon Bottomley, ... “the keepers of the secret... / that binds all
humanity / to ancient wisdom, / to antiquity” May 14 – 1944’. These lines from the poem
refer to the role of poets during wartime. The extent of their acquaintance is obscure, but
in the previous year they had both participated in ‘The Poets’ Reading’ organised by the
Sitwells, and this is a notable inscription from an Imagist to a Georgian poet – despite the
seemingly contrasting programmes of those two movements.
107. Hemingway (Ernest) Death in the Afternoon. New York: Scribner’s, 1932, FIRST
EDITION , colour frontispiece by Juan Gris, photograph printed to each recto pp.
281-407 pp. [xi], 517, 8vo, original black cloth with author’s signature stamped in
gilt to upper board, small bump to top edge of upper board, backstrip lettered and
decorated in gilt, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly toned with rubbing
to edges, some light creasing and short closed tears, a little chipping to extremities,
very good (Hanneman 10A)
£2,000
27
blackwell’S rare books
Item 108
108. Hemingway (Ernest) A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner’s, 1929, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [vi], 355, crown 8vo, original black cloth with gold paper label printed
in black to upper board and backstrip, light rubbing to labels, fore-edge roughtrimmed, bookplate tipped in to front pastedown, dustjacket with some very
light rubbing and one or two small nicks, attractive custom slipcase, very good
(Hanneman 8A)
£15,000
Inscribed by the author to flyleaf, to Hemingway scholar and biographer Michael
Murphy: ‘To Mike Murphy, Good luck, Ernest Hemingway’. A loosely inserted note
signed by Murphy explains that this copy was signed by Hemingway in Havana in 1957. A
remarkably bright copy of this modern classic.
109. Hemingway (Ernest) For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Scribner’s, 1940, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [ix], 471, 8vo, original beige canvas with author’s signature stamped
in black to upper board, backstrip lettered in black against a red ground, top edge
brown, light toning to rough-trimmed fore-edge with some minor browning to
gutter of endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, first issue dustjacket with very
light rubbing and creasing to extremities, backstrip panel slightly faded with a few
nicks at its tips, very good (Hanneman 18A)
£900
With publisher’s note ‘To the Literary Editor’ laid in at front.
110. Hemingway (Ernest) The Green Hills of Africa New York: Scribner’s, 1935, FIRST
EDITION , decorations by Edward Shenton, pp. [viii], 295, 8vo, original light green
cloth with author’s signature stamped in gilt to upper board, backstrip lightly
faded through dustjacket and lettered in gilt against a black ground with further
decorations in gilt, fore-edge rough-trimmed, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf,
dustjacket with the merest hint of rubbing to extremities and some light creasing at
foot of backstrip panel, near fine (Hanneman 13A)
£3,000
28
MODERNISMS
Item 110
Item 111
111. Hemingway (Ernest) In Our Time. Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1924, FIRST
EDITION , 137/170 COPIES , printed on Rives hand-made paper, frontispiece portait
of author woodcut by Henry Strater, pp. 29, [1], 8vo, original tan boards with
newspaper design printed in red, lettered in black to upper board, light rubbing at
tips of backstrip, edges untrimmed with usual browning to endpapers from adhesive,
£40,000
tipped-in bookplate to front pastedown, near fine (Hanneman 2A)
Hemingway’s second book, and the final instalment in a series of 6 books described
as ‘The Inquest into the state of contemporary English prose’, published by the Three
Mountains Press under the stewardship of Ezra Pound.
112. Hemingway (Ernest) A Moveable Feast. New York: Scribner’s, 1964, FIRST EDITION ,
8 plates, one or two light handling marks to outer margin, pp. [x], 211, 8vo, original
quarter terracotta cloth with author’s signature stamped in gilt to upper board, top
edge grey, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with some light rubbing, soiling
and creasing with a few nicks around edges and the odd small chip, very good
(Hanneman 31A)
£225
113. Hemingway (Ernest) The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner’s, 1952, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [i], 140, crown 8vo, original blue cloth with author’s signature blindstamped to upper board and a few small spots, backstrip lettered in silver and very
lightly sunned, edges tones, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, first issue dustjacket, near
fine (Hanneman 24A)
£2,500
114. Hemingway (Ernest) Winner Take Nothing. New York: Scribner’s, 1933, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [viii], 244, crown 8vo, original black cloth with gold paper label printed
in black to upper board and backstrip, light rubbing to labels and a few faint marks
overall, top edge red with fore-edge rough-trimmed and lightly toned, bookplate
29
blackwell’S rare books
tipped in to flyleaf, dustjacket with a few small water spots, browning to backstrip
panel and borders of flaps, rubbed to extremities with a small amount of light
chipping, very good (Hanneman 12A)
£1,600
With a letter from the publisher to the book’s original owner (Mr A.W. Schwartz) laid in at
front, thanking him for identifying an error in the first edition.
Item 115
Inscribed by the translator to Michael Sadleir, and with the translator’s copy of
the original German text
115. Hesse (Hermann) In Sight of Chaos. Translated by Stephen Hudson. Zurich: Verlag
Seldwyla, 1923, FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH , pp. 64, foolscap 8vo, original grey boards
printed in black, a little browned to borders, a few faint foxspots to endpapers, very
good
[with:]
Hesse (Hermann) Blick ins Chaos. Berne: Verlag Seldwyla, 1921, FIRST EDITION , pp.
[iv], 43, [1], foolscap 8vo, original boards printed in green and black, boards and
textblock a little toned, a slight bump at head of backstrip and light rubbing to edges,
endpapers browned, very good £800
The translation inscribed by Stephen Hudson [Sydney Schiff] on the blank preceding
half-title, to bibliophile and author Michael Sadleir: ‘with warm regard, Stephen Hudson.
Oct 18. 29’.
This was the first of Hesse’s works to be translated into English, two essays on Dostoevsky,
and it had a profound impact. T.S. Eliot quoted from the work in his notes to the final
section of ‘The Waste Land’, and explained the background to his citation: ‘My attention
was first drawn to Hermann Hesse by my friend Sydney Schiff, who was also known as a
novelist under the name Stephen Hudson. He gave me Blick ins Chaos to read and I was
very much impressed by it’ (Field, Hermann Hesse, p. 74). Eliot’s contemporary account,
in a letter to Hesse himself, reversed the chain of recommendation – he described
having come across Hesse’s work whilst recuperating in Swtizerland and subsequently
encouraged Schiff to undertake the present translation.
30
MODERNISMS
Offered with it is Schiff’s own copy of the original text, inscribed on the flyleaf: ‘Sydney
Schiff, Lye Green, Chesham’.
116. James (Henry) In the Cage. Duckworth, 1898, FIRST EDITION , faint foxing to borders
throughout, light creasing to top corner of one leaf, pp. [iv], 187, [14, ads], crown
8vo, original beige cloth stamped in black to upper board with telegraph pole design
and publisher’s device in same to lower, backstrip lettered in black and a little
darkened, cloth lightly soiled overall with a few marks including a small red spot to
upper board, free endpapers browned with bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good (Edel
& Laurence A51a)
£100
An important novella in James’s oeuvre, showing developments in his style and theme that
were a significant influence on modernists. Eliot originally adopted the same title for the
second section of ‘The Waste Land’.
117. James (Henry) The Spoils of Poynton. Heinemann, 1897, FIRST EDITION , second issue,
pp. [ii], 286, [1], crown 8vo, original blue cloth with tulips in blind to upper board
and publisher’s device in same to lower, lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip
with publisher’s name a little tarnished, lean to spine, a little rubbed to extremities
with a few marks overall and a stain to bottom corner of upper board, a couple of
small red spots to tail edge, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good (Edel & Laurence
A48a(ii))
£70
118. James (Henry) What Maisie Knew. Heinemann, 1898 [but 1897,] FIRST EDITION ,
title-page printed in black and red, light crease to top corner of one leaf, pp. [iv],
304, [32, ads], crown 8vo, original blue cloth with irises blind-stamped to upper
board and publisher’s device in same to lower, lettered in gilt to upper board
and backstrip, backstrip a little darkened with slight lean to spine, light rubbing
to extremities with a few small marks, bottom corner of upper board bumped,
light spotting to endpapers with bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, very good (Edel &
Laurence A49a(i))
£220
119. James (Henry) The Wings of the Dove. [2 Vols.] New York: Scribner’s, 1902, FIRST
EDITION , pp. [iv], 329; [iv], 439, crown 8vo, original brown cloth, backstrips lettered
in gilt with very light wear to tips, a little light bumping to corners, t.e.g., others
untrimmed, bookplate tipped in to pastedown of Vol. I, a few light marks to cloth,
very good (Edel & Laurence A56a)
£300
120. Jones (David) The Anathemata, fragments of an attempted writing. Faber and Faber,
1952, FIRST EDITION , 9 plates, one in black and red, two marginal corrections in
pencil to Preface, pp. 243, 8vo, original tan cloth, backstrip lettered and bordered
in gilt against a red ground, dustjacket a little sunned to backstrip and borders with
very light creasing around head, a short closed tear at foot of joint on rear panel, very
good £120
31
blackwell’S rare books
Will Carter’s own copy, with his bookplate
121. Jones (David) The Fatigue. c.A.V.C. DCCLXXXIV Tantus Labor Non Sit Cassus.
[Cambridge: Privately Printed at the Rampant Lions Press,] 1965, ONE OF 298 COPIES
[this unnumbered], erratum slip tipped-in to final page, pp. xii, 20, original maroon
wrappers over stiff card, printed label to front with a few very faint spots, original
proposal letter and subscription form loosely inserted, very good £150
Will Carter’s own copy, with his bookplate to the inside front cover.
Signed by Jones and Eliot
122. Jones (David) In Parenthesis. (A Note of Introduction by
T.S. Eliot.) Faber and Faber, 1961, 32/70 COPIES signed both
by the author and T.S. Eliot, 3 plates by Jones, pp. xxii, 226,
8vo, original light blue buckram, backstrip lettered in blue
on a pale grey ground within a gilt ruled border, t.e.g.,
glassine-jacket, fine (Gallup B85a)
£1,400
The first edition to appear with Eliot’s introduction (the book
was first published in 1937). Of the seventy copies printed only
fifty were for sale.
123. Joyce (James) The Cat and the Devil. Faber and Faber, 1965, PROOF COPY, colour and
black & white illustrations by Gerald Rose, pp.[32], royal 8vo, original pictorial
boards, publisher’s rubber-stamp on flyleaf, endpapers with a few very small spots,
dustjacket with fading to backstrip panel, very good £110
124. Joyce (James) The Cats of Copenhagen. Glengarriff: Ithys Press, 2012, FIRST EDITION ,
140/170 COPIES (from an edition of 200 copies) printed on Fedrigoni Vellum, line
illustrations throughout text by Casey Sorrow, pp. [27], oblong imperial 8vo, original
quarter red cloth with marbled sides, printed label inset to upper board, fine £260
Referred to in the Preface as ‘a slightly younger twin sister to The Cat and the Devil’,
which Faber published in 1965 – like that other work, it originates in a letter to his
grandson, Stephen. Written in 1936, whilst Joyce was staying in Copenhagen, it is
an extravagant postcard that offers a charming outlet for the author’s characteristic
playfulness and absurdity.
125. Joyce (James) Finn’s Hotel. Edited & Arranged by Danis Rose. Introduced by Seamus
Deane. Illuminated by Casey Sorrow. Typography by Michael Caine. Glengarriff:
Ithys Press, 2013, FIRST EDITION , 55/140 COPIES (from an edition of 180 copies)
printed on Fedrigoni Vellum, this copy signed by the editor, a full-page illustration
accompanying each story pp. [97], 4to, original patterned boards with printed label
inset to upper board, fine £300
A series of ten short pieces – referred to as ‘epiclets’ by Joyce – begun in 1923 for an
abandoned larger work called ‘Finn’s Hotel’. The styles, themes and chronologies are
diverse and many of the author’s characteristic traits are well-exemplified here – his delight
32
MODERNISMS
in language, the ability to balance comedy and drama, a preoccupation with and expert
representation of aspects of Irishness. Joyce’s conception of the work had developed and
diverged considerably by the time it became Finnegans Wake – but the germ of that work is
to be found in these prose pieces that follow closely after the publication of Ulysses, most
directly in ‘Here Comes Everybody’ where H.C. Earwicker is introduced.
126. Joyce (James) Finnegans Wake. Faber and Faber, 1939, FIRST EDITION , front flyleaf and
final letterpress pages browned as usual, pp. [viii], 628, royal 8vo, original maroon
cloth, backstrip lettered and blocked in gilt, free endpapers lightly foxed, yellow top
edges, untrimmed and unopened, dustjacket chipped at backstrip panel and with
minor chips to flap folds, tears to head and tail of backstrip panel front fold, split
along front fold, good £3,000
127. Joyce (James) Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man. New York: Huebsch, 1916, FIRST EDITION ,
pp. [iv], 299, 8vo, original blue cloth with title
and author blind stamped to front and a couple
of very small light marks, backstrip lettered in
gilt and very slightly dulled, very good (Slocum &
Cahoon 11)
£4,000
128. (Joyce.) BURGESS (Anthony) Joysprick. An
Introduction to the Language of James Joyce.
Andre Deutsch, 1973, FIRST EDITION , pp. 188,
8vo, original dark brown boards, backstrip gilt
lettered, dustjacket, fine £60
Publisher’s review slip loosely inserted.
Item 127
129. Lawrence (D.H.) Aaron’s Rod. Secker, 1922, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION , light foxing to
prelims, pp. 312, [8], crown 8vo, original brown cloth lightly soiled overall with
blind-stamped double border, backstrip lettered in gilt and rubbed at tips, top and
fore-edge trimmed, edges toned, free endpapers browned, corners bumped, good
(Roberts A21)
£30
130. Lawrence (D.H.) Birds, Beasts and Flowers. Poems by D.H. Lawrence. With WoodEngravings by Blair Hughes-Stanton. Cresset Press, 1930, FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION ,
68/500 COPIES printed on mouldmade paper,10 full-page wood-engravings and 2
head- and tail-pieces by Blair Hughes-Stanton, occasional light foxing, title-page
printed in black and red, pp.[iv], 196, foolscap folio, original quarter vellum with
vertical gilt rule, marbled boards with a touch of light soiling and a light scratch to
lower board, bump to bottom corner on lower board, backstrip lettered in gilt, top
edge gilt, others untrimmed, endpapers lightly foxed, good (Roberts A27c)
£375
With a prospectus for the same loosely inserted.
33
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Item 131
131. Lawrence (D.H.) Lady Chatterley’s Lover Florence: Privately printed [by the
Tipografia Giuntina,] 1928, FIRST EDITION , 27/1,000 COPIES , pp. [ii], 365, 8vo,
original mulberry boards with Larewnce phoenix stamped in black to upper board,
printed paper label to backstrip with small portion of loss to centre and a few spots
to borders, a little cracking at head of upper joint, partially uncut, original plain
cream dustjacket with small portion of loss in upper half of backstrip panel and
a little chipping elsewhere, a few foxspots to folds of flaps, custom box, very good
(Roberts A42a)
£10,000
An outstanding copy of Lawrence’s most famous work, with the very scarce plain
dustjacket.
132. Lawrence (D.H.) Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Florence [but elsewhere?], 1929, [but
after 1930,] 173/500 COPIES , photographic frontispiece, foxing to prelims and the
occasional foxspot throughout text, pp. [iv], 364, 8vo, original brick-red cloth with
Lawrence phoenix stamped in black to upper board, backstrip darkened with a little
rubbing to tips and along joints, corners bumped, top edge dustoiled and other edges
toned, spine cocked, endpapers browned with ownership inscription to flyleaf and
hinges a little strained, sound (Roberts Appendix I, BII)
£85
An early pirated edition, listed as the Third on the limitation page. With a late 1970s
Lawrence Society Christmas Card loosely inserted.
34
MODERNISMS
133. Lawrence (D.H.) Letters. Edited and with an Introduction by Aldous Huxley.
Heinemann and New York: Viking, 1932, FIRST EDITION , 291/525 COPIES printed
on Oxford India Paper, title-page printed in orange and black, pp. xxvi, 889, 8vo,
original parchment with Lawrence phoenix stamped in black to upper board,
backstrip lettered in black, a handful of pinprick foxspots to edges, very good
(Roberts A61a)
£250
134. Lawrence (D.H.) The Lost Girl. Secker, 1920, FIRST EDITION , FIRST STATE with
unaltered text on pp. 256 & 268, some browning to half-title, pp. 371, crown 8vo,
original brown cloth with blind-stamped double border, backstrip lettered in gilt,
top edge trimmed with a little dustsoiling, edges toned, browning to free endpapers,
very good (Roberts A16)
£200
135. Lawrence (D.H.) The Lovely Lady. Secker, 1932, FIRST EDITION , pp. 248, foolscap 8vo,
original mid brown cloth, backstrip gilt lettered, dustjacket with backstrip panel
chipped and a little darkened, good (Roberts A63)
£250
Contains one story, ‘The Man Who Loved Islands’, not present in the American edition.
136. Lawrence (D.H.) Mornings in Mexico. Secker, 1927, FIRST EDITION , a small amount
of foxing at head of prelims, pp. 177, 8vo, original tan cloth a little soiled overall,
backstrip lettered in gilt and slightly sunned, top edge green, others untrimmed
and foxed, faint browning to endpapers, dustjacket with a few foxspots and some
browning to flaps, good (Roberts A37)
£350
With a contemporary review clipping loosely inserted.
137. Lawrence (D.H.) The Paintings of D.H. Lawrence. Mandrake Press, 1929, 131/500
COPIES printed on Arches mouldmade paper (of an edition of 510 copies), 26
colour reproductions of paintings of which 13 are oil and 13 water-colour, each
with caption leaf and printed on recto, pp. [40], imperial 4to, original half brown
morocco with green cloth boards, Lawrence Phoenix stamped in gilt to both,
backstrip lettered in gilt with rubbing to tips and along upper joint, top corners
bumped and all corners a little rubbed, black ink mark along foot of lower board,
t.e.g., others untrimmed and a little toned, browning to free endpapers, good
(Roberts A46a)
£240
138. Lawrence (D.H.) Pornography and Obscenity. [Criterion Miscellany, No. 5.] Faber
and Faber, 1929, FIRST EDITION , pp. 32, crown 8vo, original orange cloth stamped
in gilt to upper board, some light dustsoiling to upper board and usual browning to
endpapers, very good (Roberts A49b)
£45
An unread copy, with pages unopened.
35
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139. Lawrence (D.H.) Rawdon’s Roof. Elkin Mathews,
1928 [but 1929,] 318/500 COPIES (of an edition of 530
copies) signed by the author, pp. 32, 8vo, original
grey boards decorated in blue with backstrip a
little sunned, top edge a little dustsoiled, illustrated
endpapers with strips of browning to flyleaves,
dustjacket sunned to borders with a few small nicks at
head of rear panel, two strips of browning to each flap,
light chipping to top corners and at head of backstrip,
untrimmed, very good (Roberts A40)
£325
Number 7 of the Woburn Books. Letters show that
Lawrence was still signing these in early 1929, so they
could not have been published in the listed year.
140. Lawrence (D.H.) Sons and Lovers. Duckworth, 1913, FIRST EDITION , cancel titlepage with date, very occasional light foxspots and a small nick to the edge of a few
leaves, pp. [viii], 423, 20, 8vo, original blue cloth with a few light marks, stamped in
gilt with a blind-stamped double-rule border to upper board and publisher’s device
to lower, backstrip lettered in gilt with a slender waterstain to centre and a touch of
rubbing at tips, slight lean to spine, corners rubbed, free endpapers faintly browned
with two ownership inscriptions to flyleaf, good (Roberts A4)
£700
Roberts is unable to establish firm priority of the three states of the title-page, but it seems
likely that the integral title-page without the date is the first, the cancel title-page with the
date (as here) the second, and the integral title-page showing the date the third.
141. Lawrence (D.H.) St. Mawr Together with The Princess. Secker, 1925, FIRST EDITION ,
variant 1 with the text block 7/8 inch across, preliminaries a trifle foxed, pp. 240,
foolscap 8vo, original chocolate-brown cloth, gilt lettering on lightly faded backstrip
tarnished, roughtrimmed, very good (Roberts A31a(1))
£50
142. Lawrence (D.H.) The Story of Doctor
Manente. Being the Tenth and Last Story
from the Suppers of A.F. Grazzini Called
Il Lasca. Translation and Introduction by
D.H. Lawrence. [Lungarno Series, No.
1]. Florence: Orioli, 1929, FIRST EDITION ,
49/200 COPIES signed by the author and
printed on Binda handmade paper (of
an edition of 1200 copies), frontispiece
portrait of Grazzini with two further
plates at either end of text, pp. xxiv, 119,
8vo, original vellum with oval ornament
stamped in red to upper board, a little
browning and a few small foxspots to lower
36
MODERNISMS
board, backstrip lettered in red and darkened, Lawrence phoenix bookplate to front
pastedown and Stephen Gooden bookplate for John Raymond Danson to flyleaf,
untrimmed, protective glassine jacket, good (Roberts A45)
£350
Although the limitation states that the overall edition was 1200, Orioli himself recalls
twice that being printed. Special copies, such as this, all feature the phoenix bookplate.
143. Lawrence (D.H.) The Story of Doctor Manente. Being the Tenth and Last Story from
the Suppers of A.F. Grazzini Called Il Lasca. Translation and Introduction by D.H.
Lawrence. [Lungarno Series, No. 1]. Florence: Orioli, 1929, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF
1000 COPIES printed on Lombardy paper (of an edition of 1200 copies), frontispiece
portrait of Grazzini with two further plates at either end of text, pp. xxiv, 119,
8vo, original vellum with oval ornament stamped in black to upper board, some
browning to edges, backstrip lettered in black and darkened, untrimmed dustjacket
toned overall with a few very small nicks to edges, very good (Roberts A45)
£100
This copy being unnumbered, it may well have been amongst the surplus that Orioli
recalled being printed.
144. Lawrence (D.H.) Tortoises. New York: Seltzer, 1921, FIRST EDITION , title-page printed
in black and red, patches of very faint browning to prelims, pp. 50, 8vo, original
green boards with illustration to front, backstrip with slightly chipped printed label
lettered in black, some fading overall and rubbed to extremities with a small hole at
head of upper joint, free endpapers browned unevenly, untrimmed, good (Roberts
A19)
£240
This volume was never published in England, although the poems were included in the
Secker edition of Birds, Beasts and Flowers.
145. Lawrence (D.H.) The Trespasser. Duckworth, 1912, FIRST EDITION , light creasing
to top corner of a few leaves, pp. [iv], 292, 20, 8vo, original blue cloth rubbed and
lightly soiled overall with bump to corners of upper board, stamped in gilt to front
with publisher’s device blind-stamped to lower board, backstrip lettered in gilt and
rubbed, spine shaken, cocked and worn along joints, edges and endpapers browned,
bookplate to front pastedown (Roberts A2)
£200
Lawrence’s second novel and a scarce book, of which this is a rather flawed example.
146. Lawrence (D.H.) The Virgin and the Gipsy. Lungarno Series, No. 4. Florence: Orioli,
1930, 307/810 COPIES printed on Binda handmade paper, occasional spotting to
borders of text, pp. 216, royal 8vo, original cream boards with Lawrence phoenix
stamped in red to upper board, lightly soiled overall, backstrip with paper label
lettered in red, small dent to label with spare label tipped in at rear, slight bumping
to corners and fore-edge, endpapers spotted, edges untrimmed and top edge a little
dustsoiled, good (Roberts A54)
£100
37
blackwell’S rare books
147. Lawrence (D.H.) The White Peacock. Heinemann, 1911, FIRST EDITION , light foxing
to half-title and occasional light foxing throughout, pp. [iv], 496, 8vo, original blue
cloth stamped in black and white to upper board, publisher’s device blind-stamped
to lower board, edges rubbed and a touch of soiling with a single foxspot to lower
board, top corner of lower board slightly bumped, backstrip lettered in gilt and a
touch faded with rubbing at tips and along joints, edges and endpapers foxed with
browning to free endpapers, good (Roberts A1b)
£300
Published a day later than the American edition, this is one of the first 750 copies of
Heinemann’s original print-run of 1500 (with the publisher’s device blind-stamped to
lower board). Variant 3, with cancel title and cancel pp. 227-30.
148. Lewis (Wyndham) ‘Art in a Machine Age’, [in The Bookman.Vol. LXXXVI, No.
514. July, 1934.] 1934, pp. 179-224, 4to, original wrappers with a little creasing and
some rubbing along spine, staples a little rusted, very good (Morrow & Lafourcade
D206)
£35
Lewis’s contribution, the cover feature, takes up pp. 184-7, and consists of an address
‘delivered in the autumn of 1933 to a newly-founded society in the University of Oxford’. It
is accompanied by a full-page self portrait on p. 185.
149. Lewis (Wyndham) The Role of Line in Art. With Six Drawings
to Illustrate the Argument. Edited with an Introduction by Paul
W. Nash. The Strawberry Press: Witney, 2007, 87/156 COPIES
(from an edition of 166 copies) printed on mouldmade paper,
title and opening letters printed in red, 12 plates by Wyndham
Lewis showing 6 subjects in both black & white and colour,
pp. 40, royal 8vo, original russet linen stamped in gilt to upper
board, backstrip lettered in gilt, untrimmed, board slipcase,
fine £85
This essay was originally intended for publication by Viscount Carlow’s Corvinus Press,
but the entire edition was destroyed in the Blitz – excepting one copy, the sheets for which
had been sent direct to Carlow and which he had bound. This version is based on that
sole, surviving copy – but incorporates some of Lewis’s corrections that had not yet been
carried out, and adds a hitherto unseen Tailpiece.
150. (Lewis.) A.J.A. Symons to Wyndham Lewis. Twenty-Four Letters. With comments by
Julian Symons. Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1982, 2/120 COPIES , frontispiece portrait
of Symons by Lewis, pp. 21, 8vo, original marbled wrappers over stiff card with paper
label printed in black to front, some very light creasing around head, very good
£40
(Halliwell 85)
151. Lowell (Robert) The Voyage and Other Versions of Poems by Baudelaire. Illustrated
by Sidney Nolan. Faber and Faber, 1968, 125/200 COPIES , signed by the author and
38
MODERNISMS
the illustrator Sidney Nolan, colour frontispiece with 7 colour and 16 monochrome
full-page illustrations beside text, pp. [viii], 60, 4to, original quarter blue buckram
with bevelled edges, backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge purple, original slipcase and
glassine wrapper, near fine £350
152. Macaulay (Rose) Catchwords and Claptrap. [Hogarth Essays, Second Series, No.
4.] Hogarth Press, 1926, FIRST EDITION , light creasing to top corner of a few pages,
pp. 45, [2], 12mo, original boards with lettering and design by Vanessa Bell,
fading to borders and backstrip, some wear at tips of backstrip, a little dustsoiling
to top edge and light spotting to endpapers, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, good
(Woolmer 101)
£65
153. Macaulay (Rose) Three Days. New York: Dutton, 1919, FIRST EDITION , AMERICAN
ISSUE , with tipped-in label to change publisher information on title-page, pp. 68,
crown 8vo, original wrappers with printed label to front, lightly dustsoiled overall,
backstrip darkened with a little chipping at tips, good £50
Macaulay’s second poetry collection features a number of striking examples of war
poetry, from a unique perspective. During the war Macaulay served first as a nurse and
land girl, before working in the British Propaganda Department and the War Office ‘with
responsibilities for exemptions from service and conscientious objectors’ ( ODNB ).
154. Macaulay (Rose) Told by an Idiot. Collins, 1923, FIRST EDITION , pp. [viii], 315, [4,
ads], crown 8vo, original blue cloth stamped in red to front, backstrip lettered in
red and a little rubbed along joints and at tips, slight lean to spine, top edge lightly
dustsoiled, bookplate tipped in to flyleaf, very good £80
A complex portrait of the war’s effects occupies the novel’s final movement.
155. MacDiarmid (Hugh) Direadh I, II and III. Frenich: [Stamperia Valdonega for:]
Kulgin Duval & Colin H. Hamilton, 1974, 84/200 COPIES signed by the author,
printed on Magnani paper at the Stamperia Valdonega, pp. [vi], 52, 4to, original
quarter red morocco with vertical gilt roll, backstrip lettered in gilt top edge
trimmed, slipcase, fine £150
156. MacDiarmid (Hugh) The Kind of Poetry I Want. Edinburgh: [Officina Bodoni
for:] K.D. Duval, 1961, 46/300 COPIES signed by the author, printed on handmade
paper, initial letter in red, pp. 58, [iv], 4to, original quarter vellum with vertical
gilt rule, patterned boards, backstrip lettered in gilt, t.e.g., others untrimmed,
slipcase, fine £250
157. Mann (Thomas) Der Kleine Herr Friedemann. Phantasus, 1920, 121/150 COPIES
signed by the author and illustrator, 11 full page woodcuts by Otto Nückel with 4
39
blackwell’S rare books
small woodcuts decorating hand-coloured initial letters, pp. [viii], 59, 8vo, original
quarter vellum with brown and beige decorated boards lightly soiled overall and
toned unevenly, backstrip lettered in gilt, very good £1,000
158. Mansfield (Katherine) The Garden Party and
other stories with coloured lithographs by Marie
Laurencin. [Officina Bodoni for] The Verona
Press, 1939 [1947], LIMITED EDITION , 672/1200
copies, title printed in red and black, with 16
coloured lithographs in the text (10 full-page) by
Marie Laurencin, publisher’s printed note tippedin after title-page, pp. [x], 315, [3], 4to, full red
Harmatan goatskin with recessed onlays of
embossed goatskin, coloured edges (simulating
grass) and grey suede doublures, gold tooling
using a floral tool, housed in a felt lined buckram
drop back box, with a recessed parti-coloured
lettering piece on the spine, by Glenn Bartley,
£3,000
with his ticket, fine (Kirkpatrick D6)
A most attractive binding by one of the leading Designer Bookbinders (the description
of the binding above is the binder’s own). Glenn Bartley says ‘My designs do not make a
personal statement as such, but I feel it is important to relate to the typography, design
and theme of the text which, combined with the book’s protective box, create a unified
whole. Also, the challenge for me is to produce bindings that have a link with the past
in their style and make up and which still arouse the simple visual/tactile pleasure and
“warmth” of handling a well bound book.’
A selection of 14 of Mansfield’s stories, only five of which had also been included in the
earlier collection with the same title. Though printed in 1939, the Second World War
delayed actual publication of this book until 1947, when it was distributed by William
Collins.
Praised by T.S. Eliot for its ‘extraordinary cleverness’
159. Monro (Harold) Milk for the Cat. Oldham, Incline Press, 2003, 59/180 COPIES
on Velin Arches paper, with a signed Bert Eastman four-colour linocut tipped in
opposite colophon page, pp. [5], imperial 8vo, original quarter blue cloth with
patterned boards, bevelled edges, small paper label to front, fine £45
With a prospectus for the same laid in. This is probably the most anthologised of Monro’s
poems, praised by no less a judge of cat poems than Eliot, in ‘The Egoist’ magazine, and
presented here in a beautiful edition by the Incline Press.
Inscribed by the author for Edith and Osbert Sitwell
160. Moore (Marianne) A Marianne Moore Reader. New York: Viking Press, 1961, FIRST
EDITION , pp. xviii, 301, 8vo, original orange cloth with a small amount of very light
40
MODERNISMS
Item 160
dustsoiling, backstrip lettered in gilt, dustjacket a touch faded around head of front
panel and at backstrip, light soiling to rear panel and borders of flaps, very good
(Abbott A18.a1)
£700
Inscribed by Moore on the flyleaf: ‘For Edith and Osbert, whom I read and read and envy
and love. Marianne. November 1, 1961’. Moore has additionally written the exact date
of publication (‘November 16th’) next to the year on the title-page verso. The selection
includes Moore’s essay ‘Edith Sitwell, Virtuoso’ (pp. 210-5), whilst Sitwell’s reciprocal
approbation is recorded in the quotes on the dustjacket rear-panel, where she ranks
Moore ‘among the most exquisite and accurate observers of our time’.
161. Muir (Edwin) First Poems. Hogarth Press, 1925, FIRST EDITION , light foxing to
prelims with one or two spots to text, pp. 75, crown 8vo, original marbled boards,
printed label to front with a few small spots, occasional light rubbing, foxing to front
endpapers, edges foxed, good (Mellown A3a; Woolmer 70)
£85
162. O’Hara (Frank) A City Winter and Other Poems. New York: (Printed by Ruthven
Todd for) Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 1951, FIRST EDITION , 28/130 COPIES (of an edition of
150 copies) printed on French Arches paper with the 2 inserted illustrations by Larry
Rivers printed on Japanese Shogun paper, the title printed in blue, unbound as issued,
pp. [iv], 16, crown 8vo, original plain white wrappers, untrimmed, fine £1,800
Scarce. Frank O’Hara’s first book.
O’Hara took up residence in New York where he worked as Assistant to the Curator at
the Museum of Modern Art. Whilst there he met and befriended several of the artists
of the American Abstract Expressionists group, especially Jackson Pollock and Willem
DeKooning. He was also a member of the New York School of Poets, other members of
whom included John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch and Barbara Guest.
41
blackwell’S rare books
The Tibor de Nagy Gallery was founded in 1949 by de Nagy and J.B. Myers. Although
initially a financial failure, funding from Dwight Ripley placed it on a more firm financial
footing. A City Winter and Other Poems was the first in a series of books issued by this
gallery.
163. Pound (Ezra) ABC of Reading. Routledge, 1934, FIRST EDITION , faint foxspot at head
of a few pages, pp. xii, 197, crown 8vo, original red cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt,
light dustsoiling to top edge, a hint of foxing to edges and endpapers, dustjacket
lightly soiled overall with slight chipping to corners and backstrip panel, good
(Gallup A35)
£200
164. Pound (Ezra) Canzoni. Elkin Matthews, 1911, FIRST EDITION , title-page printed in
red and black, a small amount of foxing to half-title and occasional light handling
marks, pp. viii, 52, [4], crown 8vo, original grey cloth stamped in gilt to front,
backstrip lettered in gilt, a touch of wear at foot of upper joint, edges darkened and a
few small stains, light handling marks to endpapers with some foxing to flyleaf, good
(Gallup A7a)
£200
Gallup records that 1000 sets of sheets were printed, with around half of these issued
as part of ‘Canzoni & Ripostes’ in 1913, making the present volume one of around 500
copies in this edition.
165. Pound (Ezra) Cathay. Translations by Ezra Pound for the most part from the Chinese
of Rihaku, from the notes of the late Ernest Fenellosa, and the decipherings of
the Professors Mori and Ariga. Elkin Mathews, 1915, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 1,000
COPIES , a few faint foxspots to latter pages and two instances of pencil-marking in
margins, pp. 32, crown 8vo, original brown wrappers printed in black with original
Blackwell’s sticker to rear panel, a couple of light creases at head of rear panel,
darkened backstrip with some light creasing and a little nick at foot, untrimmed,
edges and endpapers with a few faint foxspots, very good (Gallup A9)
£700
This copy has the ownership inscription of ‘Lorimer, Basrah 1916’ – this likely being that
of either David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer, the British diplomat and linguist who was
stationed in Basrah at this time, or his wife Emily Overend Lorimer who was then editor of
the Basrah Times. Both were notable translators: Emily collaborated with her husband ‘in
his work on Persian dialects and the languages of the north-west frontier of India’ ( ODNB ),
and produced numerous translations of German works – including Hitler’s Mein Kampf,
of which she provided a perspicacious early critique.
166. Pound (Ezra) Thrones. 96-109 de los cantares. Faber and Faber, 1960, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION , title page printed in black and red, pp. [iv], 126, 8vo, original red cloth,
backstrip lettered in gilt, top edge slightly dustsoiled, panels of light browning to free
endpapers, dustjacket with a short closed tear at head of rear panel, small waterstain
towards foot of backstrip panel and a short split at foot of upper joint-fold, very good
(Gallup A77c)
£35
42
MODERNISMS
167. Pound (Ezra) Umbra. The Early Poems. All that he now wishes
to keep in circulation from ‘Personae,’ ‘Exultations,’ ‘Ripostes,’
etc. With translations from Guido Cavalcanti and Arnaut
Daniel and poems by the late T.E. Hulme. Elkin Mathews, 1920,
FIRST EDITION , 97/100 COPIES signed by the author and printed on
handmade paper, pp. 128, foolscap 8vo, original quarter white
parchment, backstrip gilt lettered, grey boards, the parchment
and boards lightly soiled, corners a touch rubbed and two a
trifle bumped, tail of backstrip a little more so, cream cottonmarker, t.e.g., others untrimmed, good £1,500
168. (Pound.) R AINE (Kathleen) Visiting Ezra Pound. Enitharmon Press, 1999, FIRST
EDITION , 53/90 COPIES (of an edition of 100 copies) signed by the author, printed on
Teton paper, pp. 13, 8vo, original marbled wrappers with paper label printed in black
to front, very slight fading around head of backstrip, near fine £40
With a compliments slip from Stephen Stuart-Smith of the Enitharmon Press to the
previous owner laid in at front. Printed by Alan Anderson at the Tragara Press.
Inscribed for the architect Maxwell Fry, with an ALS to the same
169. Read (Herbert) Lord Byron at the Opera. A Play for Broadcasting. North Harrow:
Philip Ward, 1963, FIRST EDITION , printed on blue paper, a few foxspots at head of
some pages, pp. 22, 8vo, original stapled self wrappers printed in black, a little fading
to borders with a few foxspots and handling marks, good £80
Inscribed on the inside front cover: ‘for Max & Jane [Drew], with love from Herbert &
Ludo [Margaret Read]. Christmas 1963’.
With a 2-page ALS dated 17.xii.63 loosely inserted, written in black ink on headed paper,
a little browned to margin: Read apologises for not having written sooner and thanks Fry
for speaking at his birthday celebration; he goes on to describe his plans for the festive
season (‘We are to have a riotous family Christmas’) and visit to America in the New
Year. As a P.S., Read adds – referring to the present copy – ‘I enclose a substitute for a
Christmas card’.
The play – whose principal characters are Lord Byron and Stendhal – was first performed
ten years before, and this first publication was part of a series issued to mark Read’s 70th
birthday that year.
170. Read (Herbert) Pursuits and Verdicts. With a Preface by Graham Greene.
Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1983, FIRST EDITION , 107/110 COPIES (of an edition of 135
copies), pp. 24, 8vo, original stiff card wrappers with printed label to front, fine
£60
(Halliwell A100)
This volume collects Read’s reviews of detective fiction for Night and Day magazine.
43
blackwell’S rare books
171. Richardson (Dorothy) Interim. Duckworth, 1919, FIRST EDITION , pp. [vi], 293, crown
8vo, original blue cloth stamped in black with borders and backstrip very slightly
faded, backstrip lettered in black, slight lean to spine, light browning to endpapers,
dustjacket with corners and foot of backstrip panel very lightly chipped, erased and
faintly perceptible pencil annotation to front panel with publisher’s repricing sticker
at foot of backstrip, very good £125
The 5th installment of Richardson’s Pilgrimage series, in which she sought ‘a feminine
equivalent of the current masculine realism’ – it was in relation to Richardson’s attempt
to locate this reality firmly in the impressions of her heroine Miriam Henderson that
May Sinclair first coined the term ‘stream of consciousness’, in which regard Richardson
predates the better known experiments of more canonical modernists such as Woolf and
Joyce. Sinclair’s terms was one that Richardson disliked intensely, but which has come to
define her technique somewhat.
172. Rodker (John) Dartmoor. Traduction de Ludmila Savitsky. Paris: Éditions du
Sagittaire, 1926, FIRST EDITION , 208/725 COPIES on vélin de Rives paper (of an edition
of 750 copies), manuscript facsimile as frontispiece, pp. 125, [1], small 4to, original
wrappers, edges untrimmed, protective tissue wrapper, very good £40
Rodker’s account of his time imprisoned as a Conscientious Objector in Dartmoor
prison during the First World War was not published in English until it appeared in
the anonymous ‘Memoirs of Other Fronts’ in 1932. A short note, describing for French
readers the fate of English CO s, precedes the text.
173. Stevens (Wallace) The Man with the Blue Guitar. Etchings by David Hockney, Who
Was Inspired by Wallace Stevens, Who Was Inspired by Pablo Picasso. Petersburg
Press, 1977, FIRST EDITION , printed on Abbey Mills laid paper, Hockney-designed
title-page printed in red and blue, 19 further full-page colour etchings by Hockney,
pp. 51, 4to, original grey boards with paper label printed in blue and red inset to
front, dustjacket, fine £60
This catalogue for Hockney’s ‘The Blue Guitar’, a portfolio of 20 etchings, prints
Hockney’s illustrations alongside the Wallace Stevens poem which inspired them.
174. Stevens (Wallace) Three Academic Pieces. Cummington, MA :
Cummington Press, 1947, FIRST EDITION , XXXVI/LII COPIES
(of an edition of 246 copies), signed by the author, printed
on Crown & Sceptre paper, 3 hand-coloured initials in the
text, pp. 36, [5], 8vo, original hand-coloured boards backed
in linen by Peter Franck, backstrip longitudinally blocked in
blue, plain white dustjacket and card slipcase discarded, near
fine (Edelstein A12)
£3,000
Stevens read these poems at Harvard in February 1947, and
arranged with Knopf for the Cummington School of the Arts to
produce this edition. Surveying the proofs, he wrote: ‘If I like the
44
MODERNISMS
other initials as much as I like the O, I shall be hard to hold down’. Only this most limited
issue was bound by Peter Franck; two larger unsigned issues on different paper were
bound by Arno Werner.
175. Valéry (Paul) Agathe. [2 vols]. Paris: [Privately printed by Agathe Rouart Valéry],
1956, XIX/25 COPIES (of an edition of 200 copies) on Vergé Montval Blanc paper,
charcoal drawing frontispiece to first volume, facsimile pages in second volume
printed in purple and tipped-in to recto of each leaf, pp. [22]; [14], 4to original
cream boards encasing 2 volumes, both in cream card wrappers lightly toned and
printed in black to front, untrimmed, second volume unbound, backstrip of outer
casing lettered in black and toned, slipcase, very good £350
A previously unpublished poem, written by Valéry in 1898, presented in two states – the
printed work, and a facsimile of the manuscript.
176. Valéry (Paul) La Jeune Parque. Eaux-fortes originales de Liliane Marco. Aix-enProvence: Edisud, 1981, 9/9 COPIES (of an edition of 110 copies) signed by the artist,
printed on Vélin d’Arches paper, 7 plates of colour etchings each signed by artist,
acetate guards, pp. 39, 4to, original patterned boards with unbound text-block and
folder of etchings [unpaginated], untrimmed, slipcase, fine £350
The Preface to this edition is provided by Judith Robinson-Valéry, who had the combined
distinction of being a notable scholar of Valéry’s work and his daughter-in-law.
177. Valéry (Paul) Le Cimetière Marin. Paris: Ronald Davis,
1926, 14/85 COPIES (of an edition of 95 copies) signed
by the author, printed on Vélin d’Arches paper, etching
by author to title page and 5 further within text, tissue
guards, small waterstain to half-title, pp. [17], 4to,
original card wrappers with Valéry etching to front,
toning to borders and a few very light marks with short
tear at head of upper joint, front hinge split, good £700
An edition published in memory of the author’s friend Frank
P. Flausch.
178. Valéry (Paul) Quelques Notes. Paris: [n. pr.], 1928, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 100 COPIES
non mis dans le commerce, pp. 8, 4to, original self wrappers, printed in black to
front, very lightly soiled and toned overall with some creasing to head, good £50
179. Valéry (Paul) Sémiramis. Mélodrame en trois actes et deux interludes. Paris:
Gallimard, 1934, FIRST EDITION , 2037/30 HORS COMMERCE COPIES on Alfa Navarre
paper (of an edition of 2270 copies), small waterstain to edge of p. 39 and a little light
creasing to corner of the same, pp. 54, royal 4to, original paper wrappers lettered in
red and black to front, a little light soiling and a short tear at base of rear joint, uncut,
very good £275
45
blackwell’S rare books
180. Williams (William Carlos) Kora in Hell. San Francisco, Arion Press, 1998, 233/300
COPIES , signed by the illustrator Mel Kendrick, pp. [iv], 62, 4to, original quarter black
£300
cloth, wood-panelled boards, backstrip lettered in red, excellent In his 1961 essay, ‘The Influence of French Poetry on American’, Kenneth Rexroth
described Kora in Hell as containing ‘the only important prose poems in America ... a sort
of prose Vita Nuova’.
181. Woolf (Virginia) Beau Brummell. New York: (Printed by William Edwin Rudge
from Designs by W.A. Dwiggins for) Rimington & Hooper, 1930, FIRST SEPARATE
EDITION , 396/550 COPIES signed by the author, 2 full-page illustrations printed in
blue and pink, each with decorative blue or brown border, pp. [iv](blanks), [6], 13,
[5] (blanks), large 4to., original pink linen-backed pale grey boards, the gilt lettered
backstrip lightly faded, variant pale pink printed label at centre of front cover with
dark pink printed design, t.e.g., others untrimmed, worn and slightly defective green
board slipcase with printed label, very good (Kirkpatrick A15a)
£750
182. Woolf (Virginia) Between the Acts Hogarth Press, 1941, FIRST EDITION , pp. 256,
crown 8vo, original blue cloth with slight discolouration around foot, backstrip
lettered in gilt, edges lightly toned, small waterstain at head of pastedown
(concealed by flap), dustjacket with some faint waterstaining around head, a
few short closed tears, light chipping at head of backstrip and rear panel, good
(Kirkpatrick A26a)
£250
183. Woolf (Virginia) The Definitive Collected Edition of the Novels. [The Voyage
Out; Night and Day; Jacob’s Room; Mrs Dalloway; To the Lighthouse; Orlando;
The Waves; The Years; Between the Acts. 9 Vols. in total.] Hogarth Press, 1991,
414/1,000 SETS , pp. xvi, 463; xx, 492; xviii, 174; xx, 218; xiv, 210; xxii, 226; xx, 203;
xviii, 383; xviii, 138, 8vo, original black boards, backstrips lettered in gilt, top edges
green and green page-markers, dustjackets with light fading to some backstrips, a
£500
little creasing at foot of front panel of Orlando, very good With introductions provided by either Quentin Bell or Angelica Garnett (the author’s
nephew and niece).
184. Woolf (Virginia) Kew Gardens. Decorated by Vanessa Bell. Hogarth Press, 1927,
60/500 COPIES , printed on rectos only with border decorations by Vanessa Bell, light
foxing to prelims and one or two faint foxspots to text, pp. [48], crown 4to, original
illustrated boards with rubbing to edges and some light dustsoiling, backstrip
toned and bumped at tips, edges untrimmed and toned with free endpapers a little
browned, protective glassine jacket, good (Kirkpatrick A3c)
£1,200
A very nice example of a notoriously fragile book.
46
MODERNISMS
Item 185
Item 186
185. Woolf (Virginia) Monday or Tuesday. With Woodcuts by Vanessa Bell. Hogarth
Press, 1921, FIRST EDITION , 4 woodcuts with usual faint off-setting to facing recto, pp.
91, [1], crown 8vo, original quarter brown cloth, with Vanessa Bell design to upper
board, light dustsoiling overall, edges toned, free endpapers with adhesive browning,
contemporary ownership inscription to flyleaf, protective glassine jacket, very good
(Kirkpatrick A5a)
£2,000
One of 1,000 copies in the first edition.
186. Woolf (Virginia) A Room of One’s Own. Hogarth Press, 1929, FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION , pp. 172, foolscap 8vo, original cinnamon cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt,
faint spotting to top edge, free endpapers with strip of adhesive browning to inner
margin, dustjacket with Vanessa Bell illustration, a little minor soiling, light chipping
to corners and a couple of nicks at tips of backstrip panel, very good (Kirkpatrick
A12b)
£4,000
With a small promotional pamphlet announcing volumes available and forthcoming in
the ‘Uniform Edition’ laid in at front.
187. Woolf (Virginia) Three Guineas. Hogarth Press, 1938, FIRST EDITION , 5 plates, pp.
329, crown 8vo, original yellow cloth, backstrip lettered in gilt, edges toned, usual
browning to endpapers with faded ownership inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket with
Vanessa Bell design, faded backstrip panel with light chipping at tips, light chipping
to corners and one or two foxspots, very good (Kirkpatrick A23a)
£500
188. Woolf (Virginia) To the Lighthouse. New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1927, FIRST
AMERICAN EDITION , one or two small foxspots at head of prelims and initial pages,
pp. 310, crown 8vo, original green cloth stamped in blue to front, backstrip lettered
47
blackwell’S rare books
Item 188
Item 190
in blue, top edge blue, fore-edge rough-trimmed with one or two small foxspots,
erased inscription to flyleaf, dustjacket lightly toned overall with very light chipping
to corners and one or two small waterspots, very good (Kirkpatrick A10b) £3,500
189. (Woolf.) BELL (Quentin) Virginia Woolf. A Biography [2 vols.] Hogarth Press, 1972,
FIRST EDITIONS , frontispiece portraits with 7 plates in each volume and one or two
additional illustrations, pp. xvi, 230; xii, 300, 8vo, original lilac boards, backstrip
lettered in gilt, endpaper maps, dustjackets, fine (Kirkpatrick B16 & B17a)
£100
The author, of course, being the subject’s nephew.
190. Yeats (W.B.) Eight Poems. Transcribed by Edward Pay. Form, 1916, FIRST EDITION ,
ONE OF EIGHT COPIES (this unnumbered) printed on Dutch hand-made paper,
silhouette of nude figure in red by Austin Spare on first recto which (as with final
verso, also printed in red) is sunned unevenly through the cover, title-page printed
in red as are the titles and initial letter of each stanza and the transcriber’s note of
completion on the penultimate verso, a short closed tear to a few leaves, pp. [24], 4to,
original cream paper wrappers printed in black, lightly foxed and soiled overall with
minor creasing and a couple of nicks to edges, spine with wear at tips, rusting staples
removed and wrappers sometime sewn (thread also removed), edges untrimmed,
ownership inscription of the artist Archibald Michael Fletcher beneath limitation
statement on inside cover, good (Wade 114)
£1,500
Yeats privately poured scorn on the manner and form of this publication, which
he regarded as ‘a pirated edition’ necessitated by copyright issues. As befits such a
production, variants abound: this copy features both the statement of limitation and the
Errata notice on the inside front and rear covers respectively. Yeats reserved particular
contempt for the ‘foolish picture’ preceding the title-page – complaining that ‘the red
woman is a brute’ – and insisted that Harold Monro at the Poetry Bookshop insert a slip
48
MODERNISMS
(not present in this copy) to make clear that ‘responsibility for the caligraphy [sic] and
design rests entirely with the proprietors of FORM’. Copies personally inscribed by Yeats
exhibit less restraint in their versions of this statement.
All copies were originally stapled, with those going to the Poetry Bookshop (listed as sole
agent on the limitation page) sewn at Monro’s behest – as an out-of-series copy this is not
amongst that number, and is likely one of an indeterminate quantity that Austin Spare (the
‘foolish or intrepid young man’ behind the publication and the ‘vulgar drawing’ that Yeats
so despised) reserved for private sale, but shows traces of both forms of binding.
Both the form and manner of this publication, though not at all to the poet’s liking, give
this production a much greater interest than would normally be the preserve of the sort of
‘technical publication’ that Yeats had originally anticipated. This is a well-preserved copy
of the scarcest issue, with the unicorn watermark confirming the type of paper used.
191. Yeats (W.B.) The Golden Helmet. New York: Published by John Quinn, 1908, FIRST
EDITION , 25/50 COPIES , light waterstaining to the bottom third of the text throughout,
pp. 33, [3] (blanks), 16mo, original grey boards, rebacked to match, printed label on
the front cover, grey endpapers, untrimmed, protective dark blue cloth box with a
printed label, good (Wade 74)
£3,000
Issued for copyright purposes by Quinn, the successful lawyer, patron of the arts and
close friend of Yeats. This copy is inscribed by him to his and Yeats’ friend, Frederick
James Gregg, schoolmate of Yeats who had initially introduced him to literature, and
latterly a New York journalist. Yeats had inscribed a copy of ‘Mosada’ for Gregg. The
initial page (containing the limitation statement) is inscribed at its head ‘To F.J. Gregg with
the publisher’s compliments, New York John Quinn June 10 1908’.
In 1913 the American Association of Painters and Sculptors opened their Armory Show in
New York. Its exhibition of French art was as shocking as that of Roger Fry’s exhibitions
in London in 1910 and 1912. The publication ‘For and Against’ was an account of the
exhibition published at the time and contains a number of essays, including F. J. Gregg’s
contribution ‘Letting in the Light’ on pages 7-14.
192. Yeats (W.B.) Plays in Prose and Verse. Written for an Irish Theatre, and Generally
with the help of a Friend. Macmillan, 1922, FIRST EDITION , pp. [ii], x, 452, crown 8vo,
original apple-green cloth, backstrip gilt lettered, faded backstrip and the front cover
blind-stamped to a design by Charles Ricketts, untrimmed, scarce in the dustjacket,
frayed at its head, very good (Wade 136)
£300
This forms the first volume of Macmillan’s edition of the collected works.
193. Yeats (W.B.) Poems. Fisher Unwin, 1895, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 750 COPIES , foxed
title-page tissue-guard present, the title-page and cover designs are by H. G[ranville]
F[ell], pp. xii, 288, crown 8vo, original cream cloth with an overall gilt blocked
design incorporating lettering, backstrip darkened, with the head and tail chipped at
usual, endpapers browned, untrimmed, good
49
blackwell’S rare books
[with:]
Poems. Second English Edition, Revised. Fisher Unwin. 1899, portrait frontispiece of
the author by John B. Yeats, title-page tissue-guard present, preliminaries and final
few leaves foxed, pp. xii, 300, [8] (adverts.), crown 8vo, original dark blue cloth with
an overall gilt blocked design incorporating the lettering by [Althea Gyles], backstrip
head and tail rubbed, free endpaper tape-stains, untrimmed, good
[and:]
Poems. Third English Edition, Revised. Fisher Unwin. 1901, portrait frontispiece
of the author by John B. Yeats, title-page tissue-guard present, lacks the errata-slip,
pp. xiv, 304, crown 8vo, original dark blue cloth with an overall gilt blocked design
incorporating the lettering by [Althea Gyles], backstrip a little dull, backstrip
head and tail lightly rubbed, front hinge cracked, gift inscription on the front free
endpaper, rear endpapers lightly foxed, untrimmed, good
[and:]
Poems. Fourth English Edition. Fisher Unwin. 1904, portrait frontispiece of the
author by John B. Yeats, title-page tissue-guard present, foxing to preliminaries and
final few leaves, pp. xiv, 304, crown 8vo, original dark blue cloth with an overall gilt
blocked design incorporating lettering all by [Althea Gyles], untrimmed, very good
[also:]
Poems. Fifth English Edition. Fisher Unwin. 1908, portrait frontispiece of the author
by John B. Yeats, title-page tissue-guard present, title-page printed in black and red,
pp. [ii], xiv, 304, crown 8vo, original dark blue cloth with an overall gilt blocked
design incorporating lettering all by [Althea Gyles], school crest gilt blocked at the
head of the rear cover, lightly foxed endpapers, untrimmed, good (Wade 15, 17, 18,
19, 20)
£2,500
An assembling of the first five English editions of this landmark collection, showing its
evolution as Yeats revised and re-conceived. In the second edition the preface is rewritten
and the contents rearranged; the third edition has a new preface and the note in the
Glossary on ‘The Countess Cathleen’ is substantially revised.
Whilst the largest change in its outward appearance and internal structure occurred
between the first and second editions – Yeats disliked the ‘expressionless angel’ of
Granville Fell’s original design and from the second edition onwards it is replaced by a
more striking Althea Gyles design – it is in his new preface to the third edition that Yeats
re-states his poetic intentions in such a way as to make clear the value of tracking the
modifications and revisions: ‘These details may seem unnecessary; but after all one writes
poetry for a few careful readers and for a few friends, who will not consider such details
very unnecessary’.
194. Yeats (W.B.) Poems. Fisher Unwin & Boston: Copeland and Day, 1895, FIRST
AMERICAN EDITION , tissue-guard present, the title-page and cover designs are by H.
G[ranville] F[ell], with the addition of the publisher’s name ‘Copeland and Day’
on the title-page and at the foot of the backstrip, pp. xii, 288, crown 8vo, original
cream cloth with an overall gilt blocked design incorporating the lettering, backstrip
darkened, with the head and tail chipped at usual, t.e.g., others untrimmed, good
(Wade 16)
£1,500
50
MODERNISMS
Signed from Beyond the Grave?
195. Yeats (W.B.) Poems. 2 Vols. Macmillan, 1949, 333/350 SETS (of a total of 375 sets)
signed by the author and printed on Glastonbury Ivory Toned Antique Laid paper,
portrait frontispieces, pp. x, 276; xii, 308, 8vo, original olive-green bevel-edged
buckram, backstrips gilt lettered, the front covers gilt blocked with the author’s
initials inside a gilt circle, t.e.g, backstrips ever so slightly sunned with two fleckmarks at foot of vol. ii, board slipcase somewhat scuffed, very good (Wade & Alspach
209 & 210)
£2,500
The sheets for this edition were signed by Yeats in 1938, but the intervention of World
War Two delayed their publication by over a decade. Yeats himself had died on January
28th, 1939.
196. Yeats (W.B.) Stories of Red Hanrahan. Dundrum: Dun
Emer Press, 1904, FIRST EDITION , ONE OF 500 COPIES ,
limitation and author’s statements printed in red, pp.
6-7 not opened cleanly, pp. [vi], 57, crown 8vo, original
quarter buff cloth with blue boards, printed paper
label to upper board and to backstrip, backstrip a little
darkened with a small amount of chipping around lower
tip of label, light browning to borders, edges untrimmed
with a single foxspot at head of fore-edge, light browning
to free endpapers with bookplate to flyleaf, very good
(Wade 59)
£400
The fourth book published at the Dun Emer Press.
197. Yeats (W.B.) Wheels and Butterflies. Macmillan, 1934, FIRST EDITION , title-vignette
by Edmund Dulac repeated in gilt on the front cover, flyleaves darkened in part,
pp. [ii], x, 182, [2], foolscap 8vo, original lime-green cloth, backstrip lettering
and the front cover design all gilt blocked, faint free endpaper and edge foxing,
roughtrimmed, dustjacket chipped at head of darkened backstrip panel, very good
(Wade 175)
£150
At one time Anne Ridler’s copy, with her address embossed on the front free endpaper.
198. Yeats (W.B.) The Winding Stair and Other Poems. Macmillan, 1933, FIRST EDITION ,
pp. x, 101, crown 8vo, original green cloth with T. Sturge Moore design stamped in
blind to upper board, backstrip with lettering and design in gilt, very slight lean to
spine, edges untrimmed, contemporary gift inscription to flyleaf, green dustjacket
with same Sturge Moore design in dark green, backstrip panel very slightly faded
with a single spot of internal tape repair at head, very light chipping to corners, very
£750
good (Wade 169)
One of 2,000 copies in the first edition.
51
blackwell’S rare books
Inscribed by Elizabeth Yeats to J.B.
Yeats
199. Yeats (W.B.) and Lionel Johnson.
Poetry and Ireland: Essays. Dundrum:
Cuala Press, 1908, FIRST EDITION , ONE
OF 250 COPIES , printed in red and black,
occasional outbreaks of foxing to
borders but text largely clean, pp. [ii],
54, crown 8vo, original quarter buff
cloth with blue boards, title stamped in
black to upper board, backstrip darkened with light soiling overall and a few spots,
corners rubbed, bookplates to flyleaf and pastedown with some offsetting from the
latter, good (Wade 254)
£1,500
Inscribed on the first blank, by the printer (and author’s sister) Elizabeth Corbet Yeats:
‘To J.B. Yeats, With love from Lolly, Dec. 1908’. With father (John Butler Yeats) and son
(Jack Butler Yeats) sharing the same initials, it is difficult to be entirely conclusive about
the recipient: the form of address, however, would make one suspect the latter – in either
scenario this is a very significant Yeats association copy.
Inscribed by Zukofsky to his wife, and then to Herbert Read
200. Zukofsky (Louis) 55 Poems. Prairie City: The Press of James A. Decker, [1941,] FIRST
EDITION , title-page printed in black and red, pages lightly toned throughout, pp. 126,
[5], 8vo, original dark brown boards with paper label printed in red and black to
upper board, backstrip with paper label a little browned, light rubbing to corners
with slight softening at head of backstrip, top corners a little bumped and edges
£800
toned, very good Inscribed twice by the author on the flyleaf: the first to his
wife, ‘To Celia, from Louis’ – peculiar insofar as the name
has at some time been erased, causing some abrasion to the
paper, and then overwritten, with the same abrasion beneath
the author’s name; the second inscription is ‘For Herbert
Read, the dedicated wishes me to re-dedicate. Sincerely, Louis
Zukofsky, 16 April 1951’. Read was at that time an editor at
Routledge & Kegan Paul, who were preparing to issue an
English edition of Zukofsky’s A Test of Poetry in 1952. The
latter inscription would seem to suggest that Celia – who was
her husband’s collaborator and muse – had requested that her
husband make a gift of her copy to Read.
An already scarce book, made all the more desirable by the
chain of associations in its inscriptions.
52
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