Poetry
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YEATS, William Butler. Mosada.Dublin : 1886
First edition of Yeats's dramatic poem Mosada, printed in the Dublin University Review, preceding the separate edition published later that year (Yeats's first stand-alone publication, a great rarity). Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 144354
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THOMAS, Dylan. Twenty-Five Poems.London : 1936
First edition, first impression. One of 730 copies printed of Thomas's landmark collection, publishing the poems of "this young Welsh poet" who "has, during the last two years, attracted an unusual amount of attention with his Dionysiac verse" (jacket blurb). Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144346
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GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust.Paris : 1828
First edition of Gérard de Nerval's translation of Faust, subsequently used by Berlioz for his La Damnation de Faust. This is one of Nerval's earliest works, which he translated when still in his early twenties, and helped to establish his reputation. Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 144339
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CLARE, John. The Rural Muse.London : 1835
First edition, first impression, of Clare's final collection, which is rare in the original cloth. It includes some of Clare's best-known poems such as "The Skylark" and "The Yellowhammer's Nest". Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 144629
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PLATH, Sylvia. Crossing the Water.London : 1971
First edition, first impression. Crossing the Water was edited by Hughes and consists of poems that Plath wrote between the publication of Colossus in 1960 and her death in 1963. Learn More£165.00Stock Code: 142431
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GRAVES, Robert. Poems 1914-1927.London : 1927
First edition, signed limited issue. Number 3 of 115 copies signed by the author, of which 100 were for sale. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 119554
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SASSOON, Siegfried. The Redeemer.Cambridge : May 1916
First separate edition of this early anti-war poem.
The first of the three very scarce Sassoon numbers in the seven Reprints from the Cambridge Magazine series, Keynes noted that these reprints were produced "mostly commemorating the sacrifice made by the young men killed in the First World War production was arranged by A. T. Bartholomew and... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144730
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SASSOON, Siegfried. To My Mother.London : 1928
Signed limited edition, number 231 of 500 large paper copies printed on English handmade paper, numbered and signed by the author. Number 14 in the Ariel Poems series, Sassoon's poem pays tribute to his mother, Theresa Thornycroft Sassoon (1853-1947). Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 144865
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POE, Edgar Allan. The Raven and Other Poems.New York : 1845
First edition in book form of Poe's breakthrough poem, one of around 750 copies. The title poem was first printed in January of the same year in the American Review under the pseudonym "Quarles", and under Poe's own name in the New York Evening Mirror. The Raven "made Poe's name known both in America and England, and brought him an immortality that... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 144874
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![[Idylls of the King:] Guinevere; Vivien; Elaine; Enid.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/144202.jpg)
DORÉ, Gustave (illus.); TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. [Idylls of the King:] Guinevere; Vivien; Elaine; Enid.London : 1867-68
First Doré edition of each title, a stunning set in the stylish original cloth bindings, bright and fresh. The notice for Elaine by the Saturday Review critic could apply equally to the entire series, it was, he declared, "the most ambitious and ornate work of the day" that honoured Tennyson with "typography and general sumptuousness" (cited in Kooistra,... Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 144202
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![[Murders in the Rue Morgue; A Descent into the Maelström; and The Island of the Fay; as first printed in:]](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/4/144312.jpg)
POE, Edgar Allan (contrib.) [Murders in the Rue Morgue; A Descent into the Maelström; and The Island of the Fay; as first printed in:]Philadelphia : 1841
First edition of the complete 1841 series of Graham Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine (bound with stab-holes from the 12 monthly parts), containing the first printing of several Edgar Allen Poe pieces including "Descent into the Maelstrom", "The Island of the Fay", and, most famously, "Murders in the Rue Morgue", the first detective story in modern literature.
In... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 144312
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ROWSE, A. L. Extempore Memorial.[Oxford : 1933]
Rare first and sole edition. A touching elegy for Charles Henderson (1900-1933), fellow historian and Cornishman, privately printed following his sudden death in Rome. In 1935 Rowse co-edited with Henderson's wife, Isobel Munro, Henderson's Essays in Cornish History (1935). An online search of institutional libraries cites copies at just five locations:... Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 140179
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KIPLING, Rudyard. Sea and Sussex.London : 1926
First edition, first impression, one of 500 large paper copies signed by Kipling on the limitation page. This superbly illustrated collection gathers poems from The Seven Seas (1896), The Five Nations (1903), Rewards and Fairies (1910), Sea Warfare (1916), and others. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144835
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ISHERWOOD, Christopher, & Swami Prabhavananda (trans). Bhagavad-Gita.Hollywood : 1944
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper "For Mary Herbold, with gratitude and good wishes, Christopher Isherwood", and signed within this also by his fellow translator the great guru Swami Prabhavananda. This is a superb association copy of this significant English translation of this major Vedic text.
The... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 143597
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(HEANEY, Seamus.) Poems on the Underground.London : 2011
First edition, first printing, signed by Seamus Heaney on the front cover. Poems on the Underground is a scheme launched in 1986, showcasing a range of poetry on London Underground carriages, from classics to contemporary works. This leaflet was produced and distributed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the scheme; Heaney's poem "Colmcille the Scribe"... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 142600
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HEANEY, Seamus. Sweeney Praises the Trees.New York : 1981
First edition, number 41 of 110 copies only, additionally signed by the author on the title page; scarce, especially so signed and in such fine condition. Sweeney Praises the Trees is an early version of part of his modern English translation of the ancient Irish Buile Shuibhne, preceding his complete translation, published in 1983 as Sweeney Astray.... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 142601
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HEANEY, Seamus. An Open Letter.Derry : 1983
First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the title page. Heaney's poem was penned as an objection to his representation as a British poet in Andrew Motion and Blake Morrison's Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry (1982). Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 142604
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PLATH, Sylvia. The Colossus & Other Poems.New York : 1962
First US edition, first printing, in exceptionally nice condition, of Plath's first and only collection of poetry issued during her lifetime. It was first published in the UK in 1960. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144897
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AI. Cruelty.Boston : 1973
First edition, first printing, of the author's first book, inscribed by Ai on the half-title "To Bill & Deborah, Love Ai (Florence)". This is a review copy with the publisher's review slip and the original photograph of the author, used on the jacket, loosely inserted.
"The poet Ai (1947-2010) was noted for her uncompromising poetic vision and... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 144826
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CROWLEY, Aleister. White Stains.[Amsterdam : 1898
First edition, sole printing, of one of Crowley's rarest books: number 29 of 100 copies printed printed, with "many destroyed by H.M. Customs in 1924" (Yorke) for its pansexually erotic content. OCLC records only two copies in British institutional libraries (BL and the Warburg), and eight in America.
"Smithers was the logical publisher for Crowley's... Learn More£8,000.00Stock Code: 144151
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HOUSMAN, A. E. A Shropshire Lad.London : 1914
First Riccardi Press edition, number 116 of 1,000 copies on handmade Riccardi Paper; a further 12 copies were printed on vellum. An attractive copy.
"Though not an instant success, the little volume gradually won a large audience through the universality of its dominant themes (nature, love, war, and death) and the directness of its language... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 142418
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ESSEX HOUSE PRESS: KEATS, John. The Eve of St. Agnes.London : 1900
First Essex House Press edition, number 105 of 125 copies only, each printed on vellum and hand-coloured.
The Essex House Press was founded by Charles Robert Ashbee and Laurence Hodson following the closure of William Morris's Kelmscott Press in 1897 and "came from the heart of the arts and crafts movement" (Franklin, p. 64). Ashbee bought the... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 142535
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MOORE, Thomas. Odes Upon Cash, Corn, Catholics, and Other Matters.London : 1828
First edition of Moore's collection of satirical odes on political and economic matters, gathered from their original publication in the Times; from the collection of the distinguished book collector Eric Quayle, with his booklabel to front pastedown. Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 144921
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BAILLIE, Joanna. The Dramatic and Poetical Works.London : 1851
First edition of Baillie's collected works; a beautifully bound copy in contemporary morocco gilt with a fore edge painting. Published to her specifications shortly before her death on 23 February 1851, Baillie's "great monster book", as she affectionately called it, contains almost her entire oeuvre and runs to more than 800 pages.
"Few women... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 141973
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PASTERNAK, Boris, (trans.); Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust.[Leningrad] : 1953
First edition of Pasternak's Russian translation of Goethe's masterpiece, presentation copy inscribed to a close friend and fellow poet, "to one of the most interesting people and the best poets of the present times, Simon Chikovani, with love and devotion, B. Pasternak, 9 February 1954", on the front free endpaper.
Chikovani (1902-1966) was... Learn More£9,750.00Stock Code: 132166
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BOWLES, Paul. Next to Nothing.Kathmandu : 1976
First and limited edition, number "1C" of 500 copies. Presentation copy from the author, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "For Lawrence, So here it is, best, Paul 15/iv/77 - Tangier". It is possible that "Lawrence" is Lawrence Delbert Stewart, author of Paul Bowles: The Illumination of North Africa (1974). Learn More£875.00Stock Code: 103483
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GRAVES, Robert. Man Does, Woman Is.London : 1964
First edition, signed limited issue, number 95 of 175 signed and numbered by the author, this copy further inscribed by the author to noted Irish arts collector and patron Garech de Brún on the front free endpaper: "To Garech 1975 -Luggala- from Professor Robert Graves St John's Coll, Oxford" with de Brún's armorial bookplate to the front pastedown.... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 142715
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KANDINSKY, Wassily. Klänge.Munich : (1913)
First edition, first printing, one of 300 numbered copies signed in pencil by Kandinsky (there was also 45 hors commerce). Klänge (Sounds) consists of 38 prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and 56 woodcuts he began in 1907. Kandinsky described Klänge as a "musical album". The woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely... Learn More£80,000.00Stock Code: 142954
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VALE PRESS: TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. In Memoriam.London : 1900
First Vale Press edition, first impression, one of 320 copies on paper (with a further ten on vellum), and superbly decorated by Ricketts of the Vale Press.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), was an art nouveau designer who founded the Vale Press in 1894. Influenced by both the aesthetic movement and William Morris's designs, his Vale press books... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144842
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VALE PRESS: WORDSWORTH, William. Poems.London : [1902]
First Vale Press edition, first impression.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), was an art nouveau designer who founded the Vale Press in 1894. Influenced by both the aesthetic movement and William Morris's designs, his Vale press books are more classical than medieval in style and "the distinct personal element in those books derives from the woodcut... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144843
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DURRELL, Lawrence (trans.) Six Poems from the Greek of Sekilianos and Seferis.Rhodes : 1946
First edition of Durrell's English translation of two modern Greek poets, privately printed in a very small edition of about 50 copies on Rhodes, where Durrell was posted as a press attaché during the Second World war. WorldCat locates only eleven copies in libraries worldwide (nine in the USA, two in the UK, and one in Australia).
Durrell's... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144827
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VALE PRESS: SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Poems.London : 1901-2
First Vale Press edition of Shelley's complete poems, following only a single-volume edition of Lyrical Poetry (1898, limited to 210 copies). The book was decorated and supervised by Charles Ricketts of the Vale Press.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), was an art nouveau designer who founded the Vale Press in 1894. Influenced by both the aesthetic... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144840
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VALE PRESS: KEATS, John. The Poems.London : 1898
First Vale Press edition, one of 210 unnumbered copies on paper (a further 8 were issued on vellum), and superbly decorated by Ricketts of the Vale Press.
Charles Ricketts (1866-1931), was an art nouveau designer who founded the Vale Press in 1894. Influenced by both the aesthetic movement and William Morris's designs, his Vale press books are... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144841
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COSTELLO, Louisa Stuart. The Rose Garden of Persia.London : [1913]
First Gardner-illustrated edition of this anthology of Persian poetry in English translation, containing poems by Firdawsi, Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Hafiz, Nizami, Jami, Hatifi, Sa'di, and others. This edition is very uncommonly found in the jacket.
Louisa Stuart Costello (1799-1870) was an author and miniature painter. "In 1835 she published Specimens... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 144514
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CAVAFY, Constantine P. The Complete Poems.New York : 1961
First edition, first printing, of Cavafy's works translated by Rae Dalven, published with an introduction by W. A. Auden. Learn More£75.00Stock Code: 144523
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KIMURA, Shotaro, & Charlotte M. A. Peake. Sword and Blossom Poems from the Japanese.Tokyo : [c.1914]
First editions, matched set issue (second printings of vols. 2 and 3, third printing of vol. 1). They were first published separately from 1907 and gathered into mixed set from the publication of the third instalment in 1910. Excepting the colophon, these volumes are identical to the earlier printings. This set is uncommonly found in the wraparound... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 144384
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WALDMAN, Anne. Baby Breakdown.New York : 1970
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the half-title "For Joe, where would I be without you!! Anne, Nov. 23/70". The recipient is the writer and artist Joe Brainard (1942-1994) with whom Waldman wrote Self Portrait (1972) - a great Beat association.
Anne Waldman (b.1945) is a writer, experimental poet, and lecturer connected... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 144595
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NORSE, Harold (trans.) The Roman Sonnets of G. G. Belli.Highlands : 1960
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper to fellow Beat Generation poet Gerard Malanga "For Gerard, Language & Light keep us going. Love, Harold Norse. San Francisco 19/XI/72".
The inscription was penned a few months after the publication of the first issue of Norse's Bastard Angel Magazine, for which... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 144532
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ADCOCK, A. St John. For Remembrance.London : 1918
First edition, first impression, of Adcock's memorial volume, giving biographies and poetical excerpts for 44 "Soldier Poets", 20 of which are portrayed. This book is uncommonly found, especially so in such good condition and with the jacket.
The dust jacket, which was designed by Eugene Hastain, bears on the front flap an advertisement ("It... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 144555
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BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord. Hours of Idleness.Newark : 1807
First edition, first issue, in a handsome binding, of Byron's first regularly published volume of poetry, his youthful poems consolidating his two prior privately printed collections, Fugitive Pieces (1806) and Poems on Various Occasions (1807) - 20 poems from those works are omitted and twelve new ones are published here for the first time.
The... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 144477
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YEATS, W. B. Some Passages from the Letters of AE to W. B. Yeats.Dublin : 1936
First edition, first impression; one of 300 copies. Letters to Yeats from his lifelong friend "AE" (Dublin-based mystical poet and painter George Russell: 1867 - 1935), between 1896 and 1932, collected and published in the year after his death. This copy bears some scholarly annotations in pencil. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 83423
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THOMAS, Edward - THOMAS, Helen. As it Was.London : 1926 & 1931
First edition, first impression, of Thomas's tender yet frank memoirs of her life with poet Edward Thomas, in elegant matching bindings.
Thomas began writing these memoirs in an attempt to lift herself from her depression following the death of her husband Edward Thomas in 1917. Two leaves at pp. 53-6 of As It Was were cancelled prior to publication... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144490
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YEATS, W. B. The Wild Swans at Coole.Dundrum : 1917
First and limited edition, one of 400 copies. One of Yeats's major poetry collections, the title was printed by Yeats's sister, Elizabeth Corbet. The collection includes the much-loved title poem, alongside one of his most enduring poems, "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death".
The Cuala Press, a co-operative business with Lily Yeats, was founded... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 143926
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YEATS, W. B. Michael Robartes and the Dancer.Dundrum : 1920
First edition, first impression, one of 400 copies printed and now very scarce. The significant English composer and co-founder of the original Glastonbury Festivals Rutland Boughton's copy, with his ownership inscription "R. Boughton, Glastonbury" to first blank and matching purple ink stamp to the title page.
Rutland Boughton (1878-1960) remains... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 143925
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CUALA PRESS: YEATS, W. B., & Dorothy Wellesley (eds.) A Broadside: No. 3 (New Series).Dublin : March 1937
First edition, one of 300 copies printed, of this attractive Cuala Press publication. Yeats's "The Three Bushes" was first published just two months prior in The London Mercury.
The Cuala Press Broadsides were issued monthly, with a bound set of the collected issues published at the end of the year in a smaller edition. The first series ran from... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 140544
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ARNOLD, Matthew. Poetical Works.London : 1910
Handsomely presented copy of Arnold's complete poems, first published in 1890. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 140552
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GINSBERG, Allen. Photographs.Altadena : 1990
First edition, first printing, inscribed copy. From an edition of 5,100 copies, this copy is inscribed by Ginsberg on the title page, "2/17/94, Allen Ginsberg, for Audrey Gaston", and with a large ink drawing across the title page spread featuring his favoured Blakean "Ah, Sunflower" growing under an "Ah" sun and other celestial shapes.
Ginsberg's... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 140264
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FIELD, Alice Withrow. Poems.London : 1932
First edition, number 35 of 250 copies only, of this attractively produced and illustrated collection of poems. Alice Withrow Field (1909-1960) was a sex researcher, criminologist, and social scientist, whose seminal work Protection of Women and Children in Soviet Russia was also published in 1932. This edition is now uncommon and has been traced at... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 139595
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WILLIAMS, Oscar (ed.) The War Poets.New York : 1945
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, inscribed by the editor on the day of publication on the front free endpaper, "For Jean Lanslow with love from Oscar Williams - editor - June 19 1945", the inscription continued by the founder of the John Day company: "And from Richard Walsh", and by two contributors, "from Hubert Creekmore" and "from... Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 139656
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CUNARD, Nancy. Poems (Two) 1925.London : 1930
First edition, one of 150 copies, this one unnumbered. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 137307
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BARLOW, Jane. The End of Elfintown.London : 1894
First edition of this interesting contribution to Victorian fairy literature by Irish-born poet and writer Jane Barlow (1857-1917).
It is exquisitely illustrated in a Pre-Raphaelite style by Laurence Housman (1865-1959), who also designed the art nouveau cover. Barlow was close friends with fellow Irish poets Katherine Tynan and William Butler... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 135808
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BRADLEY, Katharine, & Edith Cooper, as FIELD, Michael. Poems of Adoration.London & Edinburgh : [1912]
First edition, first impression, of this collaboration by Edith Emma Cooper and her aunt and sometime lover Katharine Harris Bradley, pseudonymously-published as Michael Field. This copy is in notably bright condition, highlighting Charles Rickett's stricking art nouveau cloth design.
Whilst Cooper and Bradley's work was highly collaborative... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 134560
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YEATS, W. B. (ed.) A Book of Irish Verse.London : 1895
First edition, first impression, of this collection of Irish verse including poems by Thomas Moore, Oliver Goldsmith, Emily Brontë, and Oscar Wilde.
Wade states that it was published in March 1895 and makes no mention of the advertisements. Further editions were published in January 1912 and in 1920. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 144497
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KIPLING, Rudyard. Debits and Credits.London : 1926
First edition, first impression, of this collection of 14 stories and 21 poems. While all of the stories were previously published, 19 of the poems are here published for the first time. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 144451
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CORNFORD, Frances. Poems.Hampstead : [1910]
First edition, first impression, of Cornford's second book, following the rare Holtbury Idyll (1908), and first poetry collection, including her poem "Youth", later titled "On Rupert Brooke", as well as the notorious "To a Fat Lady Seen from a Train", which became a much anthologized (and parodied) piece.
Frances Cornford (1886-1960, née Frances... Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 144493
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POE, Edgar Allan. The Poetical Works.London : 1853
First edition thus, under the title of "The Poetical Works", published as part of Addey's Illustrated Classics series, this one dedicated to Rossetti. Hannay's collection was seen as the definitive collection of Poe's poetry, and "maintained its popularity for decades". An attractive early illustrated edition; preceded only by Vizetelly's Tales (1852).... Learn More£800.00Stock Code: 144318
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THOMAS, Dylan. Deaths and Entrances. Poems.London : 1946
First edition, first impression, of Thomas's collection of poems, including "In My Craft or Sullen Art" and "Fern Hill". Scarce in such good condition. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 140059
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GRAVES, Robert, as John Doyle. The Marmosite's Miscellany.London : 1925
First edition, first impression. Robert Graves only used the pseudonym of John Doyle for this one work but he adopted a number of pen names throughout his early career, particularly for contributions to periodicals such as The Carthusian, The Spectator, and Woman's Leader. The Sussex ledge shows 106 copies sold by 6 January 1928.
This copy has... Learn More£575.00Stock Code: 144345
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UPDIKE, John. Sixteen Sonnets.Cambridge : 1979
Signed limited edition, special issue signed and numbered "R" on the limitation page, one of 26 lettered and hard-bound copies, inscribed on the first blank "For Anne Sissman, with admiration and affection, John", and with a typed letter to her, signed by John. From an edition limited to 276 signed copies.
The recipient, Anne Sissman, was the... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 144315
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FILLIOU, Robert. Longs poemes courts a terminer chez soi.Bruxelles Hamburg : 1984
First edition, one of 500 sets printed and now scarce, with only two recorded at auction. Filliou's text on the folder states that the postcards were issued in memory of Danish artist Arthur "Addi" Kopke (1928-1977), at whose gallery these poems were originally exhibited during his 1961 residence in Copenhagen with his wife Marianne.
These postcard... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 143553
