Poetry
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HUGHES, Ted. Orts.London : 1978
First edition, signed limited issue, number 161 of 200 copies signed by the author. This copy is from the library of Frieda Hughes, daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, though unmarked as such. "Orts" is a Middle English word meaning scraps or leftovers. Many of the poems in this collection were left over from the unpublished Lumb's Remains, which... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 125734
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JOHNSON, Samuel. A Miscellany of Poems by Several Hands.Oxford : 1731
First and sole edition, celebrated for including Samuel Johnson's first appearance in print and the mention of him in the preface as "a Commoner of Pembroke-College in Oxford". Johnson spent only thirteen months at Pembroke (October 1728 to December 1729), forced to leave through financial constraints. His stay may have been short but the nineteen-year... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 125411
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THWAITE, Anthony (ed.) Poems for Shakespeare 3.London : 1974
Signed limited edition of a 100 copies, this copy out of series, signed by the editor on the title page and by all 14 contributing poets on the facing page. The copy of the editor Anthony Thwaite, with his ownership signature in pencil to the front free endpaper. The signed issue preceded the trade edition. Together with a card from Sam Wanamaker to... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 126572
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HUGHES, Ted. Gaudete.London : 1977
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy to the author's sister Olwyn Hughes, inscribed on the front free endpaper: "For Olwyn much love from Ted 22nd April 77". Hughes was very close to his sister Olwyn. After Plath's suicide in 1963 Olwyn helped to bring up their children, became her brother's literary agent, established the Rainbow Press... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 125889
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![Divân-ı Zâtî ("Diwan of Zati"); [together with:] Sawanih al-nawadir fi ma'rifat al-anasir ("Rare Thoughts about Knowledge of the Elements").](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/2/126850.jpg)
ZATI, Suleyman. Divân-ı Zâtî ("Diwan of Zati"); [together with:] Sawanih al-nawadir fi ma'rifat al-anasir ("Rare Thoughts about Knowledge of the Elements").Istanbul : 1841
First edition. Scarce, with only 11 locations on WorldCat. A lavishly produced copy the first edition of these works by Suleyman Zati, clearly specially produced for presentation, since the printers have deliberately omitted the opening title device and a new design has been hand painted in its place. The attractive binding bears the seal of the reigning... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 126850
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SMITH, Adam - HAMILTON, William. Poems on several Occasions.Glasgow : 1748
First edition of Hamilton's poems, with a preface by Adam Smith, his first appearance in print. Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 125751
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JAMES, Edward. Twenty Sonnets to Mary.[London] : [1931]
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to his sister on the first blank, "To Silvia, with love and affection, from Edward - May 1931". Edward James (1907-1984) was an aristocratic arts patron and amateur poet. He was a passionate supporter of surrealism and sponsored Salvador Dalí for the whole of 1938. The James Press was primarily... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 130533
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TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. Poems.[London?] : 1862
First pirated edition of Tennyson's suppressed poems, taken from the Poems, Chiefly Lyrical of 1830 and the Poems of 1833, printed by J. Dykes Campbell and sold by the bookseller John Camden Hotten.
Tennyson took legal action, obtained an injunction to prevent its sale, and extracted an apology and 100 damages from Hotten. The book was issued... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 130070
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ROSENBERG, Isaac. Youth.London : 1915
First edition, sole printing, of Rosenberg's second of only three poetry pamphlets published in his lifetime. This work, containing 22 poems, was published in a run of roughly 100 copies just prior to his enlistment in the army. Rosenberg attended the Slade School and quickly became one of the most celebrated of the British war poets, before his death... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 128186
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UPDIKE, John. Telephone Poles and Other Poems.New York : 1963
First edition, first printing, of Updike's second collection of poetry. Of the 66 poems collected here 3 were previously unpublished, and 47 were published in The New Yorker, for whom Updike had written regularly since 1954. Learn More£115.00Stock Code: 128335
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ANDERSON, John Redwood. The Vortex.London : 1928
First edition, first impression of this collection of poetry. From the publisher's archive with their stamp to the title page. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 95032
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MEYERSTEIN, E. H. W. Division.Oxford : 1946
First edition, first impression. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to "M. C. S. With the writer's sincere regard, Norbury Park 3/8/47" on the front free endpaper. The recipient was birth control pioneer Marie Stopes, who lived at Norbury Park House near Leatherhead, Surrey. With her bookplate to the inside of the front wrapper. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 97292
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EVERSON, Bill. These Are The Ravens.San Leandro, CA : 1935
First edition, signed limited issue, one of 15 copies covered by the author at The Everson Printery, on 27 November 1935. This copy was presented to Miss Frances Wilson by the author on 19 December 1935, and was subsequently inscribed by him 44 years later on the inside front cover: "How astounding to find this specially bound copy of my first book,... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 99733
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AMIS, Kingsley. Bright November.London : [1947]
First edition, first impression, later issue binding, of the author's first published book. The publisher R. A. Caton was an elusive one-man publisher who founded The Fortune Press, based at 12 Buckingham Palace Road, in 1924. He specialised in gay writing (several Fortune Press productions were burned after the 1934 obscenity trials), and in taking... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 100284
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CLOUGH, Arthur Hugh. Poems.London : 1890
A choicely bound copy. Learn More£95.00Stock Code: 101683
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BETJEMAN, John. Continual Dew.London : 1937
First edition, one of only three copies specially bound in blue velvet. This copy has a typed letter signed from the publisher (John "Jock" Murray VI 1909-1993) dated 1942 gifting the book to the novelist and bibliophile Michael Sadleir, enclosing the present copy as a "swop" for "the splendid Amandiana", and clarifying the limitation, noting that there... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 102445
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HEANEY, Seamus, & Tim O'Neill. Christmas card, 2007. Irish poem.Loughcrew : 2007
Heaney's Christmas card for 2007, one of 300 copies. Presentation copy, inscribed by Heaney to the manuscript collector and dealer Roy Davids, "Roy, Wishing you quiet nights in the scriptorium - Seamus & Marie." The card features an anonymous 9th century poem in Old Irish, together with a translation into English by Heaney and O'Neill: "Is acher in... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 103115
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KREYMBORG, Alfred. Manhattan Men.New York : 1929
First edition, first printing. Presentation copy, amusingly inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper to the American writer and historian, H. Ogden Wintermute, "This book of man, to the man in Ogden, Wintermute. Alfred Kreymborg, 11/19/31." An attractive copy with the art deco dust jacket. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 103571
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PEAKE, Mervyn (illus.); CRISP, Quentin. All This and Bevin Too.London : 1943
First edition, first impression, scarce. "In 1943 Crisp wrote a pamphlet and got his Chelsea neighbour Mervyn Peake to illustrate it. The pamphlet consisted of forty-eight 'rather clumsy verses of angerless satire' directed at the Ministry of Labour headed by Ernest Bevin. Quentin tells us he dashed these off in two afternoons but after ensnaring the... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 103875
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BETJEMAN, John. High and Low.London : 1966
First edition, signed limited edition. Number 31 of 100 copies specially bound and signed by the author. Learn More£425.00Stock Code: 103910
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SNYDER, Gary. Regarding Wave.New York : 1970
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: "For Fred & Edie 9.IX.40070, Kitkitdizze, Gary Snyder". Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 103922
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PUDNEY, John. Dispersal Point.London : 1943
First edition, third printing. From the library of Australian painter Albert Tucker (1914-1999), with his signature to front free endpaper. Learn More£85.00Stock Code: 104461
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BELLOC, Hilaire. Verses.London : 1910
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author with a holograph draft of "Sonnet XXIV", later published in his Sonnets and Verse (1923), on the front free endpaper. This copy comes from the collection of historian and auctioneer Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), who according to a laid-in note in his hand, judged this to be a pre-publication draft:... Learn More£525.00Stock Code: 104936
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SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. Miscellaneous Poems.London : 1826
First edition of this very scarce early collected edition of Shelley's poetry, in the rare original boards. This Benbow piracy selects Shelley's poetry from various previously published editions, collecting mainly from the Posthumous Poems edition of 1824, but with some notable examples drawn from earlier publications. Excepting perhaps the Posthumous... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 106345
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FORTUNE PRESS: DURRELL, Lawrence; Ruthven Todd, Patrick Evans; Rayner Heppenstall; Edgar Foxall; Oswell Blakeston. Proems.London : 1938
First edition, first impression. The Fortune Press made most of its money through a steady output of pornography, and also provided its owner Reginald Caton with a convenient tax dodge for his activities as a slum landlord in Brighton. Caton would occasionally commission works of "proper literature" to provide his pornography list with a veneer of respectability... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 109002
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MURPHY, Richard. The Woman of the House: An Elegy.Dublin : 1959
First and limited edition, one of 250 copies. Presentation copy from the author, inscribed on the title page: "For Darrel Simmons with best wishes Richard Murphy, 14 April 1977 at Chicago"; and with an authorial correction at page 10, changing the line "While the mist came down like chronic catarrh" to "Under leaky thatch listening to seabirds". An... Learn More£625.00Stock Code: 110120
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(YEATS, W. B.) BAX, Clifford (ed.) Florence Farr, Bernard Shaw and W. B. Yeats.Dublin : 1941
First edition, first impression. Number 386 of 500 copies. A collection of letters from Shaw and Yeats to Florence Farr (1860-1917), a London-based actress of great beauty and dynamism. She was deeply involved with both Yeats and Bernard Shaw, both theatrically (acting in plays written by them, often specifically for her) and romantically (more with... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 112230
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YEATS, W. B. The Variorum Edition of the Poems.New York : 1957
Signed limited edition, number 381 of 825 copies signed by Yeats, and issued posthumously. The limitation sheets were signed by the author before his death in 1939, and retained by the publisher until the publication of this edition, which was deferred until after the war.
Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 112375
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MARE, Walter de la. A Child's Day:London : 1912
First edition, first impression. Learn More£145.00Stock Code: 11879
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KINSELLA, Thomas. Wormwood.Dublin : 1966
First edition, signed limited issue of 350 copies, signed by the author on the colophon. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "For Benjamin Boshes, with best wishes, Thomas Kinsella". The recipient was Doctor Benjamin Boshes, chairman emeritus of the neurology department at Northwestern University Medical School. During the... Learn More£300.00Stock Code: 42113
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MACDONALD, George. Within and Without: a dramatic poem.London : 1855
First edition of the author's first book, presentation copy to Charles Kingsley, inscribed by MacDonald in ink at the head of the title: "The Reverend Charles Kingsley With much honour from George MacDonald." An excellent association copy, bringing together the only two significant writers of Christian fantasy in the Victorian period. Kingsley recognised... Learn More£6,500.00Stock Code: 43749
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MacLEISH, Archibald. Songs for Eve.Boston : 1954
First edition, first printing, signed limited issue, presentation copy, this copy unnumbered and specially bound and signed by the author on the half-title, and additionally inscribed on the title page "For Dos & Betty with love, Archie, December 1954". The recipients were the writer John Dos Passos, author of the U.S.A. Trilogy (1930-6), and Betty,... Learn More£640.00Stock Code: 50076
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FENTON, James, & John Fuller. Partingtime Hall.London : 1987
First edition, first impression. With the publisher's promotional sheet laid in. Learn More£35.00Stock Code: 50464
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GALE, Norman Roland. Saga and Song: Being a Ballad Made of the "Regina Elizabeth"Rugby : 1895
First edition, first printing of the author's first book. Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 50626
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CHESTERTON, G. K. Greybeards at Play. Literature and Art for Old Gentlemen.1900
First edition, first impression, of the author's first book. Learn More£525.00Stock Code: 50828
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MERRILL, James. Hoi chilies kai e meutera nuchta (The Thousand and Second Night and Other Poems).[Athens] : 1966
First edition thus, first impression. Inscribed by the author and the translator on the front free endpaper "To Allen Ansen and from his friend, veiled in a foreign tongue, Jimmy." Alan Ansen (1922-2006) was a central figure in the loose collection of writers known as the Beats. He was close friends with Burroughs, Ginsberg and Kerouac, and was the... Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 51354
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MERRILL, James. For James Merrill. A Birthday Tribute.1986
First edition, first printing. One of a limited edition of 90 copies. Learn More£160.00Stock Code: 51368
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WHITEHEAD, Peter. Wholly Communion the film.1966
Second edition. From the library of Alan Ansen. Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 51406
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HUGHES, Ted. Roosting Hawk.[1959]
First separate edition, sole printing, being one of a small number of copies off-printed from the Grecourt Review for the use of the publisher and author. Sagar & Tabor write that "The Grecourt Review, like many other periodicals, provided contributors with offprints... They are identical with the magazine texts and of no bibliographical interest".... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 51997
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MONTAGUE, John. A Chosen Light.Chicago : 1969
First US edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the title page, "for Donal Swift, John Montague, Sherry '78". Originally published in the UK in 1967. Learn More£80.00Stock Code: 63479
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WILLIAMS, Charles. Window of Night.[1925]
First edition, first impression. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 63751
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KINSELLA, Thomas. Notes from the Land of the Dead.Dublin : 1972
First edition, first impression. One of a limited edition of 500 numbered copies. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 63830
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GILBERT, W. S. The Bab Ballads.1922
First published in 1868. A lovely example of an onlay by the Spottiswoode bindery. Learn More£285.00Stock Code: 66515
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GOGARTY, Oliver St John. An Offering of Swans and Other Poems.London : [1924]
First UK edition, first impression, originally published in Dublin in 1923. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Edgar Scott, the only man who made a rhyme with the name of his friend this rhymer - a book of verse from Olivier St. J. Gogarty, Kylemore House, Co. Galway, Ireland. August 17th 1935". Learn More£475.00Stock Code: 69417
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BLUNDEN, Edmund. The Waggoner and other Poems.London : 1920
First edition, second issue. Of an edition of 500, 250 copies were bound in purple cloth for immediate issue, 100 sets of sheets were sent to NY for Knopf's American edition, and the remaining 150 bound up in green cloth later in 1920. Extremely uncommon in jacket in either issue. Blunden's first trade publication, The Waggoner was issued with the encouragement... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 70521
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DAY LEWIS, Cecil. Beechen Vigil and other Poems.London : 1925
First edition, first impression. With the 1933 ownership inscription of sculptress Gertrude Hermes to the front free endpaper. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 70972
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MACNEICE, Louis. The Last Ditch.Dublin : 1940
First edition, first impression. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 72283
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HATCH, James V., & Ibrahim Ibn Ismail. Poems for niggers and crackers.[Cairo : 1965
First edition. Inscribed by Hatch on the front free endpaper, "To Jackie, would you believe two volumes of verse? Love you for supporting the unpopular arts, Jim." Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 76251
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[BROWNJOHN, Alan] LUCIE-SMITH, Edward [ed]. British Poetry since 1945.Harmandsworth, Middlesex : 1973
Third printing, originally published in 1970. Inscribed by the poet Alan Brownjohn in the margin above his section of the anthology (p. 263), "Signed for Nicholas Gammage - with all good wishes to you and for your poetry - Alan Brownjohn, 24th January 1974". Brownjohn and Gammage were both friends with Ted Hughes, who also is included in this anthology.... Learn More£65.00Stock Code: 77017
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BRAITHWAITE, William Stanley (ed.) Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1919. And Yearbook of American Poetry.Boston : 1919
First edition, first impression of this significant anthology representing many of the American poets of the period, compiled by an important African American writer. Learn More£100.00Stock Code: 80537
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ACKERLEY, J. R., and others. Poems by Four Authors.Cambridge : 1923
First edition, first impression, of the first book to publish Ackerley's poetry. The other three poets are A. Y. Campbell, E. L. Davidson, and F. H. Kendon. Learn More£350.00Stock Code: 82618
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CLAUDEL, Paul. Five Great Odes.London : 1967
Number 2 from a limited edition of 100 copies signed by the translator and with his inscription: "Stanley Ekers, best wishes, Ted." Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 87112
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HENRI, Adrian. Tonight at Noon.London : 1968
First edition, first impression of the author's first book. Number 20 of 100 copies signed by the author on the limitation leaf. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 89001
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BARKER, George. At Thurgarton Church.London : 1969
First edition, first impression. Learn More£45.00Stock Code: 89493
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MANNING, Frederic. Poems.London : 1910
First edition, first impression. Collection of 39 poems, of which only three had previously appeared in different magazines. Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 91367
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PLUMPTRE, James, ed. One Hundred Fables in Verse;London : 1825
First edition of this collection of fables, including a number by Christopher Smart, William Cowper and the Scottish poet William Wilkie. Educated at the fashionable Newcombe's school at Hackney, James Plumptre (1771-1832), took part in the amateur theatricals that were encouraged there, before going up to Cambridge; he was ordained in 1794. His continuing... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 93146
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RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); MACKAYE, Percy. The Far Familiar.London : 1938
First edition, first impression. Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 113204
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LONGLEY, Michael. Poems.Edinburgh : 1985
First edition, first impression, case-bound issue. Inscribed by the author "For Phil Murray, warmest regard, Michael Longley, Sligo 85" on the title page. Poems was also issued in paper wrappers. Dr Philip Murray is an Irish bibliophile and author The Adventures of a Book Collector (2011). Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 113526
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SCHUYLER, James. The Crystal Lithium.New York : 1972
First edition, first printing. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 101447
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BECKETT, Samuel. Poems 1930-1989.London : 2002
First edition, signed limited issue, number 5 of 100 copies specially bound with a lithograph by Louis le Brocquy, and signed by the artist. Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 114408
