Poetry
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AUDEN, W. H. City Without Walls, and other poems.London : 1969
First edition, first impression, familiarly inscribed by Auden using his first name reserved for friends, "with love from Wystan" on the title page. This copy derives from the library of his close friend and fellow writer James Stern (1904-1993), though without his ownership mark.
Auden was first introduced to James and Tania Stern by Christopher... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 139413
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[ROLFE, Frederick William, Baron Corvo.] Tarcissus: The Boy Martyr of Rome,[Saffron Walden : 1880
First edition of the author's first book, and a prize rarity in the Corvo corpus. Only two other copies have appeared at auction in over 35 years (one being the Bradley Martin copy in 1990). This fine bright copy also has a rich Corvoid provenance, sequentially owned by Christopher Sclater Millard, A. T. Bartholomew, and Robert Scoble (see below).
"The... Learn More£8,500.00Stock Code: 139376
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SNYDER, Gary. Turtle Island.New York : 1974
First edition, first printing, scarce first issue (without the Pulitzer sticker to the jacket), inscribed on the title page "For Gary Lepper Gary Snyder", Snyder adding a small ink drawing of a turtle below. Lepper is a bibliographer (the author of A Bibliographical Introduction to Seventy-five Modern American Authors) and book collector based in California.... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 139303
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(ESSEX HOUSE PRESS.) DRYDEN, John. Alexander's Feast; or, the Power of Music.Campden, Gloucestershire : 1904
First Essex House edition, number 61 of 140 copies only, printed on vellum and hand-illuminated. This is a lovely production of the Essex House Press, number 11 in their "Great Poems of the Language" series. The book's production was overseen by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942), a central figure in the Arts and Craft movement and the founder of the... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 139264
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HERBERT, George. The Temple.Cambridge : 1635
Fourth edition, following the first of 1633. The book - all editions were published posthumously - was enormously popular, with six editions by 1641. "Herbert's English poetry, despite its entanglement with his more partisan personal reputation, was enormously popular. The Temple... appealed to a readership spanning the political and ecclesiastical... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 139017
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SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles. Collected Poetical Works.London : 1935
A handsomely bound copy of Swinburne's poetry, first published in this collected edition in 1924. Learn More£325.00Stock Code: 139101
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BURNS, Robert. The Works.Edinburgh : 1877-9
First William Scott Douglas edition, a very fine edition, well printed on superior paper, and here abundantly extra-illustrated. The edition is described by ODNB as a "splendid, six-volume library edition. The poems in this edition are arranged chronologically, and while it was the most sumptuous yet published it was also the most complete and correct... Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 139102
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TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. The Works.London : 1884 & 1893
An attractive early set of Tennyson's works in a Zaehnsdorf exhibition binding. Collected editions of Tennyson's works began to appear in 1870; the canonical complete works was published in the 1907 to 1908 Eversley edition, edited by the author's son Hallam. Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 139099
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COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. The Rime of The Ancient Mariner.[1913]
First edition, first impression, one of 525 numbered copies, signed by the artist on the limitation leaf. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 32375
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STRICKLAND, Agnes. The Seven Ages of Woman, and Other Poems.London : 1827
First edition, presentation copy from the author's sister, inscribed on the half-title "To Mrs Cautley with Jane M Strickland's love", later inscribed on the half-title verso, "To Miss G. F. J. Foster with compliments from Andrew J Cutler", with the ownership signature of Ida S. Cutler to the title page.
The Seven Ages of Woman is Agnes Strickland's... Learn More£550.00Stock Code: 138335
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![The Iliad [and] Odyssey.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/3/135113.jpg)
(NONESUCH PRESS.) HOMER. The Iliad [and] Odyssey.[London] : 1931
First Nonesuch editions, number 313 of 1,450 copies and 3 of 1,300 copies respectively. The Nonesuch Homer was one of the finest productions of the Nonesuch Press, a shining example of how fine printing and commercial viability could be brought together. The Greek text is printed in parallel with the English translation of Alexander Pope, which was... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 135113
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ELIOT, T. S. Poems 1909-1925.1925
First edition, first printing of Eliot's early collection of poetry. Contains some of Eliot's most highly-regarded poetry, including such masterpieces as Prufrock, The Hollow Men and The Waste Land. Learn More£1,875.00Stock Code: 135355
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DAHL, Roald. Dirty Beasts.London : 1983
Proof copy of the first edition, with publisher's stamp "proof copy only" to the front free endpaper. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 138982
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ARNOLD, Matthew. An amateur manuscript copy of The Forsaken Merman.1897
A unique calligraphic manuscript copy of Arnold's poem "The Forsaken Merman". The present copy includes fine illustrations within ornamental borders, possibly after original designs, in an art nouveau style reminiscent of masters such as Edward Burne-Jones, Robert Anning-Bell, and Walter Crane. We were unable to trace information about the "Dodo" who... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 138062
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HALLIWELL, James Orchard. Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales:London : 1849
First edition of this important little work; scarce in commerce. James Orchard Halliwell (later Halliwell-Philipps, 1820-1889), antiquary and literary scholar, co-founder of both the Percy and Shakespeare Societies, is one of the most significant figures in the codification of English nursery rhymes. Popular Rhymes was a sequel to his groundbreaking... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 136692
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SEXTON, Anne. Transformations.Boston : 1971
First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed to fellow poet "For Firman and Mimi Houghton, with best wishes, Anne Sexton", and signed by the illustrator, on the half-title. Houghton, one of New-England's best-known poets and playwrights, "had been the first to recognize and publish Ann Sexton's poetry after she had received a dozen or... Learn More£950.00Stock Code: 136891
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[BACON, Mary Ann.] The Legend of St. Bernard.Norwich : [1840]
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title, "Mrs Howlett from her affectionate friend MAB". We can trace ten copies in institutions worldwide, just one of those a presentation copy, inscribed from the author's father (see below).
The little-known British poet Mary Ann Bacon (fl. 1839-1870, d. 1875) was born into a... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 136220
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ORTON, I. R. The Dreamer and the Sheaves,London : 1955
First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author to the title page, "To Alan Guest, best wishes from I. R. Orton". Loosely inserted in this copy are two letters to the editor of Stand magazine and poet Jon Silkin, one in manuscript, dated 27 November 1954; the second typed and signed in manuscript. Alongside the letters Orton has sent... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 136259
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COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor; Percy Bysshe Shelley; John Keats. The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats.Paris : 1829
First edition of the first anthology of the Romantic writers, also comprising the first collected edition of the poems of John Keats. Each poet is prefaced with a memoir, that of Shelley incorporating Mary Shelley's preface to his Posthumous Poems. Galignani's Paris editions of the English poets were piracies (he also pirated Crabbe, Hazlitt, Washington... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 136066
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MEREDITH, George. Poems.London : [1851]
First edition of the author's first book, the publication of which he funded himself. Though he later disowned the work, it was praised at the time by both Tennyson and Charles Kingsley. Learn More£825.00Stock Code: 130288
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DANTE ALIGHIERI. La divina commedia.London : 1808-9
First Zotti edition. Romualdo Zotti (d. c.1819) was an Italian expatriate who acted as a teacher of Italian for young noble women as well as being a printer, producing highly popular guides to French and Italian grammar as well as editions of Italian poets such as Petrarch. Zotti's focus upon the education of the English upper classes is indicated by... Learn More£1,350.00Stock Code: 124978
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CRANE, Stephen. The Black Riders and Other Lines.Boston : 1895
First edition, deluxe issue, one of 50 copies printed in green on japon. The Black Riders is first book of poetry by Stephen Crane (1871-1900), famous for his novels such as his acclaimed Civil War tale The Red Badge of Courage, published in the same year as this collection. Crane was a prolific writer of poetry, though only in private at first, writing... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 117295
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HODGSON, William Hope. The Calling of the Sea.London : [1920]
First edition, first impression. This poetry collection was published posthumously by Hodgson's widow, Betty ("Bessie") Gertrude Farnworth; Hodgson died in the First World War, killed by an artillery shell at Ypres on 17 April, 1918. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 103030
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SASSOON, Siegfried. The Old Huntsman and Other Poems.London : 1917
First edition, first impression, in the very scarce jacket, of Sassoon's first collection of war poetry. Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 138949
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BISHOP, Elizabeth. Questions of Travel.New York : 1965
First edition, first printing. Questions of Travel is Bishop's third collection and includes poems based on her experiences living in Brazil, notably "The Armadillo". It was also her first collection to include a short story, "In the Village". Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 138936
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HEANEY, Seamus. Sweeney and the Saint.Loughcrew : 1982
First edition, one of 125 copies. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the manuscript collector and dealer Roy Davids on the title page: "To Roy, with love and happy memories at Christmas, Seamus & Marie & the boys & Catherine Ann." The poem was privately printed for use by the author as his Christmas card for 1982. Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 103121
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QUARLES, Francis. Emblems, Divine and Moral;London : 1723
An attractive early 18th-century edition of Francis Quarles's Emblems, the most popular and frequently reprinted English emblem book since its original publication in 1634, here also including his second book, Hieroglyphikes, originally published 1638, "the most notable English version of the theme of the ages of man" (ODNB). Each... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 138863
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COHEN, Leonard. Selected Poems 1956-1968.New York : 1968
First edition, first printing, clothbound issue, review copy with publisher's slip loosely inserted. Cohen's poetry collection includes "Suzanne Takes You Down" (additionally printed on the rear of the jacket), which had been set to music and performed as Cohen's debut single the previous year. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 138845
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TOLKIEN, J. R. R., & E. V. Gordon, eds. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.Oxford : 1925
First edition, first impression. A scholarly edition of the Middle English alliterative romance, the text is reproduced from the original 14th-century manuscript (now held at the British Library) with copious notes, details and glossaries by Tolkien and Gordon, which "opened new fields of study and which remained standard, in revised form, throughout... Learn More£675.00Stock Code: 138787
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JOHNSON, Samuel, ed. The Works of the English Poets.London : 1779-1780
A superb set of this vast compendium of English poetry, here uniformly bound in an elegant contemporary French morocco binding. The set is complete in 68 volumes, with the 56 poetry volumes, two volumes of index, and the further ten volumes of Johnson's biographies of the poets, published separately and not always accompanying the set. This was the... Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 138778
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BLAKE, William. Milton: A Poem.Clairvaux : 1967
First edition thus, copy S of 26 lettered copies reserved for Lessing J. Rosenwald, the Library of Congress, the Trustees of the William Blake Trust and the Publishers, containing an original guide-sheet and stencil, and a set of hand-coloured plates showing progressive stages in the stencil work, as well as colour collotype proofs, from a total edition... Learn More£3,750.00Stock Code: 115042
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(RACKHAM, Arthur.) IBSEN, Henrik. Peer Gynt.London : 1936
Signed limited edition, number 403 of 460 numbered copies signed by Arthur Rackham. Learn More£1,850.00Stock Code: 113158
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WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass.San Francisco : 1930
First Grabhorn Press edition, number 371 of 400 copies. The largest undertaking of the Grabhorn Press, arguably their finest production, and one of the great examples of American fine printing, using as its text Whitman's final edition of Leaves of Grass, published shortly before his death. Learn More£3,000.00Stock Code: 138793
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[ISAAC, Frederick Simeon?] Odds and Ends in Prose and Verse.London : 1908
First and only edition. A truly sumptuous piece of private publishing, produced as a gift for the author's children and grandchildren, handsomely printed at the Chiswick Press and finely bound by an unnamed binder of real quality. Among the varied pieces is "A Dream, by One who Dreamt It", a prose fantasy, conceived at the time of the Dreyfus case,... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 122897
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(APOLLINAIRE.) ROUVEYRE, André. Apollinaire filmé en 1914.Lanzac : 1944
First and only edition, number 93 of 115 copies on papier Vélin Madagascar. The short film, or succession of photographs, were taken on 2 August 1914 as Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) on the left, and his friend the artist André Rouveyre (1879-1962), had just returned to Paris and were on their way to the Comœdia's offices to deliver... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 138667
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LEVY, D. A. Cleveland undercovers.Cleveland : 1966
First edition, one of 500 copies printed. Levy (1942-1968) was a leading figure in the countercultural movement known as the Cleveland Mimeograph Revolution. His productions, being hand-assembled with small print runs, now survive in relatively small numbers. His introduction declares "to my knowledge this poem is the first poem of any length to be... Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 138639
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LEVY, D. A. Cleveland undercovers.Cleveland : 1966
First edition, this one of 65 special copies "bound with freak covers by the author" (each being thus unique, this one incorporating old maps of Ohio, a striking photograph of two Native Americans, and newsprint collage), from a total edition of 500. This copy is inscribed on the title page, "many thanks, d. a. levy". Levy (1942-1968) was a leading... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 138636
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(YEATS, W. B.) BOUGHTON, Alice. Doubly inscribed portrait photograph.New York : 1904
A doubly inscribed portrait photo, inscribed by Yeats to Una Pope-Hennessy, "W B Yeats To Mrs Pope Hennessy" at the foot of the image, and additionally signed by the photographer, "Copyrighted by Alice Boughton Apr. 1904 New York". A remarkable photo, with an appealing association, by the renowned New York photographer. Alice Boughton (1876-1945) opened... Learn More£20,000.00Stock Code: 131408
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(BRITISH POETS.) Aldine Edition of the British Poets.London : [c.1875-83]
Revised Bell and Daldy Aldine edition. The celebrated Aldine Edition of the British Poets was begun by William Pickering in 1830, with the reputable scholars Alexander Dyce, Nicholas Harris Nicolas, and John Mitford as editors. George Bell bought most of Pickering's publications, including the Aldine series of poets, which he subsequently revised and... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 138234
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VERLAINE, Paul. Œuvres Complètes.Paris : 1919-20
A handsomely bound set of Verlaine's poems which includes his collections Poèmes saturniens (1866), Fêtes galantes (1869), Romances sans paroles (1874), Sagesse (1880), and Les Poètes maudits (1884). Romances sans paroles was inspired by Verlaine's relationship with his wife, Mathilde Mauté,... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 138447
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SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. Rosalind and Helen.London : 1888
First edition thus of Shelley's long poem "Rosalind and Helen", a conversational lament for a disappointed poet-reformer, set on the shores of Lake Como, begun in Marlowe and completed in 1818 at the baths of Lucca in Tuscany.
Provenance: the copy of Adolfo de Bosis (1863-1924), with his black ink stamp to title page, an Italian poet, admirer... Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 137552
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CONGREVE, William. The Works.London : 1753
A collection of reissues of plays and poems by the author, including The Old Batchelor, The Double-dealer, The Way of the World, The Mourning-bride, and Love for Love. All were first performed and published from 1693 to 1700.
With the bookplate of Sir Joshua Vanneck (17021777), 1st Baronet, of Putney, Surrey, to the front pastedown... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 138561
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FROST, Robert. New Hampshire.New York : 1923
First edition, first printing, limited issue, number 167 of 350 copies signed by the author, and rare in the glassine. New Hampshire is one of Frost's most notable books, and won him his first Pulitzer Prize. It contains poems such as the famous "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "Fire and Ice". Learn More£3,250.00Stock Code: 125222
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MILTON, John. The Poetical Works.London : 1853
A handsomely bound copy of Milton's poetical works, including engravings after drawings by William Turner, originally executed for Macrone's edition of Milton published in seven volumes in 1835. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 132662
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DONNE, John. Poems, By J.D. With elegies on the authors death.London : 1654
Fourth edition overall, though a reissue, with cancel title page, of the 1650 third edition. Learn More£5,000.00Stock Code: 134530
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CLARE, John. The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems.London : 1821
First edition of Clare's second book of poetry, with no frontispiece to the second volume as required for the first issue. A farm labourer's son, John Clare (1793-1864) had published his first work, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, the previous year. It became something of a publishing sensation, with the 1,000 copies of the first edition... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 126172
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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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ELIOT, T. S. Poems 1909-1925.London : 1925
First edition, first impression, scarce in the jacket. The collection selects from Prufrock (1917), Poems (1920), and also prints The Waste Land (1922, here including for the first time the dedication to Ezra Pound as "il miglior fabbro") and The Hollow Men, for which this is the first appearance.
Some literary... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 137380
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(CODEX MANESSE.) Facsimile of Codex Manesse.Leipzig : 1925-27
Limited edition facsimile, number 3 of 320 copies. The Codex Manesse, compiled c.1304-40, is the single most comprehensive source for Middle High German poetry, and among the most widely esteemed of all German manuscripts, renowned for the beauty of its illustration. A triumph of early 20th-century reproduction, this facsimile is remarkably accurate,... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 137734
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BAMFORD, Samuel. Hours in the Bowers.Manchester : 1834 [i.e. 1835]
First edition of this collection of the poetry, some here printed for the first time, by the English radical Samuel Bamford (1788-1872). The title refers to his time in prison ("bowers" being slang for jail), and Bamford notes that he wrote two of the poems while incarcerated - "Eclogue" and "Hymn to Hope". Bamford makes clear in the preface his feeling,... Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 136399
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SCOTT, Sir Walter. The Poetical Works.Edinburgh : 1868
An attractively bound set. Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 134431
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(TAGORE, Rabindranath.) HOLDT, Hanns (photographer). Signed photographic portrait.Munich : 1921
Very attractive signed portrait of the great Bengali poet, playwright, philosopher and author, captured at the height of his fame, inscribed in ink on the mount "Rabindranath Tagore, June 17 1921"; also signed by the distinguished photographer Hanns Holdt (1880-1972).
"Tagore's visit to Germany in June 1921 was a sensation, even a phenomenon; during... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 130403
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SHAKESPEARE, William. Sonnets. Being a Reproduction in Facsimile of the First Edition 1609.Oxford : 1905
First edition thus, the Clarendeon Press facsimile of the 1609 first edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets. With the bookplate of actor John Martin Harvey (1863-1944). Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 114988
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![A Shropshire Lad [together with] Last Poems.](https://d3dzzbbvj9im7s.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/ae0834d12b7cf129fc73bcc000ea526a/1/2/126238.jpg)
HOUSMAN, A. E. A Shropshire Lad [together with] Last Poems.Chipping Campden : 1929
First Alcuin Press edition, number 134 of 325 copies in total. First published in 1896 and 1922 respectively, this work collected together in two volumes what was then understood to be the entire corpus of Housman's published poetry. This book was handsomely printed in the private press manner on Batchelor handmade paper for the publishers by the Alcuin... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 126238
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PALGRAVE, Francis Turner (ed.) The Golden TreasuryCambridge : 1861
First edition, third impression. The first impression was published in July 1861; based on Palgrave's notes in his own copies, the second impression was published in October, and the third in November. This has the relevant third impression points - four notes on p. 323, gothic half-title, and no price on the spine.
Dedicated to his friend Alfred... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 136078
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OWEN, Wilfred. Mapping Golgotha.Wales : 2007
First edition, first impression, one of 200 copies only, Jeremy Hooker's own copy with "Editor's copy" instead of a number written on the limitation page. This is a handsomely bound selection of Owen's letters and poems, mostly written and completed between 1917 and 1918, before the author was killed in action in November 1918. Learn More£600.00Stock Code: 137877
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FROST, Robert. Mountain Interval.New York : 1916
First edition, first printing, first issue with duplicated line 8 on p. 88 and "Come" for "Gone" in line 16 of p. 93. Frost's third book, Mountain Interval is notable for containing perhaps his most famous poem, "The Road Not Taken". This copy has an original photograph of the author pasted to the verso of the dedication. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 137975
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SACKVILLE-WEST, Vita. Orchard and Vineyard.London : 1921
First edition, first impression, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Orchard and Vineyard is Sackville-West's third book of poetry. Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 136487
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CUNARD, Nancy. Man-Ship-Tank-Gun-Plane.London : 1944
First edition, one of 400 copies, here out of series, as often for this title. Cunard left London during the second Blitz of 1944, staying with her fellow left-wing poets Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland in Dorset. While there she wrote the present poem, dedicated to Edward Thompson. In her modernist style, Cunard evokes the terror of experiencing... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 136389
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SMITH, Patti, & Tom Verlaine. The Night / La Nuit.[Paris] : [1976]
First French edition, signed by both authors on the rear wrapper, scarce thus. This collaborative work, containing 22 numbered poems (11 by each poet), was first published in a limited edition chapbook by Aloes Books in London the same year. The text is printed in both French and in English. Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 136067
