Poetry
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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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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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TENNYSON, Alfred Lord. In Memoriam.London : 1874
An attractive copy of Tennyson's work, first published in 1850.
Completed in 1849, In Memoriam is a requiem for the poet's beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly, at the age of 22, of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833. "The friendship, deepening into love, of Hallam and Tennyson was to be one of the most important experiences... Learn More£200.00Stock Code: 144630
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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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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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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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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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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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YAZICIOGLU MEHMET. Kitab al-Muhammadiyah.Istanbul : 1880-1 CE
Uncommon Istanbul imprint of this popular Turkish translation of the Magharib al-Zaman (Sunsets of Time), a devotional work on the Prophet Muhammad, written in Arabic by the Ottoman Sufi poet Yazıcıoğlu Mehmet (d. 1491; his name means "son of the scribe") and translated into Ottoman Turkish by his younger brother Ahmed Bican. Mehmet, a native of... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 122439
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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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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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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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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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SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Complete Poetical Works.London : 1885
A handsomely bound set of Percy Bysshe Shelley's complete poetry. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144471
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DRYDEN, John. Original Poems.Glasgow : 1770
First Foulis duodecimo edition of Dryden's collected poetry, a pretty example in contemporary calf. The Foulis press, renowned for their elegant typography and the quality of their printing, had published Dryden's works once prior to this edition, in an octavo edition of 1756. Learn More£275.00Stock Code: 144534
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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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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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HOOD, Thomas. Poems.London : 1848
A handsomely bound copy of Hood's collected poems. Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 144556
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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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BROWNING, Robert. The Poetical Works.London : 1901
An attractively bound copy of Browning's poetry. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 140251
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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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BROOKE, Rupert. The Collected Poems.London : 1960
A handsomely bound copy of Brooke's poems, the collection first published in July 1918. Learn More£250.00Stock Code: 139862
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GRAY, Thomas. An Elegy.Chicago & New York : [c.1900]
An attractive gift edition of Gray's Elegy, with illustrations by Alfred Woodruff, in a charming unsigned contemporary binding.
Gray's Elegy was originally published privately by Horace Walpole in June 1750 and distributed amongst his connections in the fashionable classes. It was then published for the public in a quarto pamphlet on 15 February... Learn More£150.00Stock Code: 139593
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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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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, and his lover, the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Verlaine... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 138447
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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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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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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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ROBINSON, Charles (illus.); SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Sensitive Plant.London : [1911]
First Robinson edition, deluxe issue in vellum, retaining the rare dust jacket. Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144323
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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
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BRONTË, Patrick. Cottage Poems.Halifax : 1811
First edition, sole impression, of this scarce debut collection of poems by the father of the Brontë sisters. Patrick Bronte's first published poem "Winter Evening Thoughts" had appeared in a local Shropshire newspaper in 1810. He then moved up to Yorkshire and had this collection of poems published in Halifax. Brontë would marry Maria Branwell in... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 133120
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TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. Poems, chiefly lyrical.London : 1830
First edition of Tennyson's first solo poetry collection, a very commendable copy in the original boards.
The collection was preceded only by Poems by Two Brothers (1827), in which he appeared anonymously alongside his (in fact three) brothers. "Some of Tennyson's most enduring notes, elegiacally lyrical, with his riven sensibility... are especially... Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 144305
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LOCKER, Frederick. London Lyrics.London : 1881
First privately printed edition, large paper issue with frontispiece and illustration (not present in the ordinary issue), this copy in the deluxe vellum binding, other copies issued in cloth.
"Austin Dobson made the selection for the privately printed edition, and prefixed the prefatory sexain... very few copies were printed" (Murray); the... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 144310
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JOHNSON, Lionel. Poems.London : 1895
First edition, number 6 of 25 inscribed large-paper copies, inscribed by the author on the initial blank "Twenty-five copies of this edition. No. 6. Lionel Johnson".
"His reputation was confirmed by the publication of his Poems in 1895, which marks the high point in his career" (ODNB). Learn More£7,500.00Stock Code: 144311
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DULAC, Edmund (illus.); Edward FitzGerald (trans.) Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.London : [1909]
First Dulac edition, first impression. Learn More£2,000.00Stock Code: 132279
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ROBINSON, Edwin Arlington. The Town Down the River.New York : 1916
Second edition, inscribed on the front free endpaper "To Lewis Chase, From E. A. Robinson, 1917", and with Chase's pictorial bookplate to first blank. It was first published in 1910. Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry on three occasions and was nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in literature.... Learn More£125.00Stock Code: 144149
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FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyám.Portland : 1907
Ninth Mosher edition, first printing, one of 925 copies on Van Gelder paper, in a superb contemporary binding. It includes a "Toast to Omar Khayyam" and "To The Winds" by Theodore Watts-Dunton; "Edward Fitzgerald" by W. Irving Way; "Omar Khayyam" by Fitzgerald.
It also comprises the text of the first (1859), second (1868), and fourth editions... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 144208
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YEATS, W. B. The Winding Stair and Other Poems.London : 1933
First edition, first impression of Yeats's follow-up collection to The Tower, containing some of his best, and most difficult, poems, such as "Blood and the Moon", "A Dialogue of Self and Soul", "Vacillation", and, of course, "Byzantium", and thus full of "those images that yet / fresh images beget; / that dolphin-torn, and gong tormented sea".
A... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 143928
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WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass.Brooklyn, NY : 1855
First edition, first state binding. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was self-published by Whitman. His money ran tight as production continued and the bindings became progressively less elaborate. Only 337 copies were bound in the deluxe first binding with gilt border, edges gilt and marbled endpapers, as here. A total of 795 copies were eventually... Learn More£250,000.00Stock Code: 143598
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DARWIN, Erasmus. The Poetical Works.London : 1806
First edition of this posthumous collection placing Darwin's exuberant and eccentric inquiry into the Linnaean system in rhyming couplets alongside his poetic speculations on evolution, the whole much enlivened by numerous plates including a number by Blake and Fuseli. A wide-margined, ?large paper copy in a handsome Regency binding from the library... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 141677
