Anabasis: A Poem by St. J. Perse.

ELIOT, T.S.

$1,750.00

Item Number: 145470

London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1930.

Signed limited first edition of this famous poem by Marie René Auguste Alexis Léger under the pseudonym St. J. Perse, translated from the original French by T. S. Eliot, which Eliot wrote is “of same importance as the later work of Mr. James Joyce;” from the library of poet and literary critic, William Everson. Royal octavo, original cloth. One of three hundred and fifty copies signed by the Eliot on the limitation page, this is number 243. In near fine condition. From the library of William Everson, signed and dated on the front free endpaper, “William Everson July 3, 1941 Elk. Calif.” William ‘Bill’ Everson, also known as Brother Antoninus, was an American poet who played a significant role in the literary scene of the mid-20th century. He was significantly influential in the San Francisco Renaissance, drawing inspiration from the psychological work of Carl Jung and his spiritual experience in the Catholic Church. This ownership inscription, dated 1941, would have pre-dated Everson’s incarceration as a conscientious objector to World War II by two years.

T.S. Eliot was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), "The Hollow Men" (1925), "Ash Wednesday" (1930), and Four Quartets (1943).[4] He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry."