Poetry
Rare Poetry Books & First-Edition Poetry Books for Sale Online
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The Poetry Collection of Annie Dillard; over 35 volumes each signed or inscribed to her
[DILLIARD, Annie].
The Poetry Collection of Annie Dillard.
Various Publishers, .
Rare collection of dozens of volumes of poetry from the collection of American author Annie Dillard, each signed or inscribed to her and with her bookplate. Approximately 35 volumes, the collection includes inscribed first editions and early printings of Fred Chappell's Wild Mountain, Leo Connellan's First Selected Poems, Karen Connelly's The Border Surrounds Us, Paul Zimmer's Crossing to Sunlight, A. J. Hovde's Selected Poems, Tom Owen-Towle's Sauntering, Joe Rosenblatt's The Sleeping Lady, and Frank Polite's Letters of Transit. Each volume is in near fine to fine condition.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 128534
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Rare 18th century Venetian printing of La Vittoria D'Amore
[GOZZI, Gasparo].
La Vittoria D’Amore Poema. Pubblicato In Occasione de Gloriosi Sponsali Dell’ Eccellenze Loro Il Signor Cavaliere Francesco Morosini P. e la Nobil Donna Loredana Grimani. [The Victory Of Love Poem].
Venezia: Presso Modesto Fenzo, 1772.
Rare 18th century Venetian printing of La Vittoria D'Amore. Quarto, bound in hand painted paper-covered wrappers, illustrated with engravings including frontispiece. In near fine condition. Small bookplate.
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 130905
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Rare collection of four first edition Kipling indexes
[KIPLING, Rudyard].
Something of Rudyard Kipling and His Works [with] The Kipling Index.
London, Edinburgh, and Garden City: Various Publishers, 1914-1917.
Rare collection of four first edition Kipling indexes. Small octavo, four volumes, original wrappers. Contains: The Kipling Index [London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1914], Something of Rudyard Kipling and His Works with an Index to the Volumes Published by Macmillan & Co., Ltd. [Edinburgh: R & R Clark, n.d.], The Kipling Index: Being a Guide to Authorized American Trade Edition of Rudyard Kipling's Works [Saxton, Gene F. Garden City: Doubleday, Page and Company, n.d.], and The Less Familiar Kipling, and Kiplingana [Monkshood, G. F. London: Jarrold & Sons, 1917]. In very good to near fine condition. Essential for the Kipling…
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 126447
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First and deluxe edition of A London Garland: Selected From Five Centuries of English Verse by W. E. Henley with Pictures of the Society of Illustrators
[THE SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS; ARTHUR RACKHAM],.
A London Garland: Selected From Five Centuries of English Verse by W. E. Henley with Pictures of the Society of Illustrators.
London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1895.
First and deluxe edition of this selection of five centuries of verse with commentary by the Society of Illustrators. Quarto, original publisher's deluxe full vellum, illustrated, with one full page illustration by Arthur Rackham on page 104. In good condition with some chipping to the crown of the spine.
Price: $150.00 Item Number: 142637
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First edition of Walter Abish's Duel Site; signed by him
ABISH, Walter.
Duel Site.
New York: Tibor de Nagy Editions, 1970.
First edition of the award winning poet's first book. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers, illustrated. One of 300 copies, 1 to 0 of which are signed. Signed by the author on the title page. In near fine condition. Rare.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 128294
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First Edition of Helen Adam's Turn Again To Me and Other Poems; Signed by Her
ADAM, Helen.
Turn Again To Me and Other Poems.
New York: Kulchar Foundation, 1977.
First edition of the first book by Adam. Quarto, original boards. Boldly signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "All good wishes Helen Adam." In near fine condition.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 127711
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First Edition of The Blood of Adonis; Inscribed by both Adonis and the Translator Samuel Hazo
ADONIS [ALI AHMED SAID],.
The Blood of Adonis.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971.
First edition of the poet's first book to be translated into English. Octavo, original red cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in both English and Arabic on the title page, "For Matthew friend in poetry, with my great sympathy Adonis Paris 15.1.2008." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Translated by Samuel Hazo.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 138130
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First Edition of Adonis' Selected Poems; Signed and dated by Him in the Year of Publication
ADONIS [ALI AHMED SAID]; TRANSLATED BY KHALED MATTAWA,.
Selected Poems.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.
First edition of the first major career-spanning collection of the poems of Adonis, widely acknowledged as the most important poet working in Arabic. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed and dated in the year of publication by Adonis on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Translated by Khaled Mattawa.
Price: $375.00 Item Number: 138251
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First Edition of The Blood of Adonis; Inscribed by both Adonis and the Translator Samuel Hazo
ADONIS [ALI AHMED SAID]; TRANSLATED BY SAMUEL HAZO,.
The Blood of Adonis.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971.
First edition of the poet's first book to be translated into English. Octavo, original red cloth. Inscribed by both the poet Adonis and by the translator, Samuel Hazo. Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $950.00 Item Number: 1544
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First Edition of Conrad Aiken's Selected Poems; In the Rare Original dust jacket
AIKEN, Conrad.
Selected Poems.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929.
First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poetry and verse. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. With a partial rare original wrap around band.
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 112323
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First Edition of Miracle Maker: Selected Poems of Fadhil Al-Azzawi; Signed by Him
AL-AZZAWI, Fadhil.
Miracle Maker: Selected Poems of Fadhil Al-Azzawi.
Rochester: Boa Editions, 2003.
First edition of this collection of poems by the award-winning author. Octavo, original wrappers. Signed by the author on the half-title page, "with my Love Fadhil Al-Azzawi and again below in Arabic. In near fine condition. Translated and with an introduction by Khaled Mattawa.
Price: $375.00 Item Number: 138262
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Rare manuscript poem signed by "The Greatest" American Boxer Muhammad Ali
ALI, Muhammad.
“The President” Muhammad Ali Signed Manuscript Poem.
Manuscript poem signed by famed American boxer Muhammad Ali. One page, the poem is titled, "The President" and reads in part, "The face of the Pres is open, The eyes of the Pres are bright, The lips of the Pres are now closed, The head of the Pres is upright, The breast of the Pres slants forward, The gaze of the Pres is bright... The soul of the Pres is flaming, the heart of the Pres is warm... The image of this Pres is truth, Wisdom's message his rod. The home of the Pres is the white house and the president's…
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 143204
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finely bound 19th century printing of Le Rime Di Dante Alighieri Fiorentino with Giovanni Boccaccio's Vita Di Dante
ALIGHIERI, Dante; Giovanni Boccaccio.
Le Rime Di Dante Alighieri Fiorentino Precedute Dalla Vita Di Lui.
Parma: Per Pietro Fiaccadori, 1842.
19th century printing of this collection of poems by Dante Alighieri, preceded by the first formal biography of his life written by Giovanni Boccaccio. Duodecimo, purple half cloth over green marbled boards. In very good condition with very light toning throughout, contemporary ownership signature to the title page.
Price: $100.00 Item Number: 146434
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“You have tried to destroy me and though I perish daily, I shall not be moved": Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman
ANGELOU, Maya.
Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women.
New York: Random House, 1994.
First edition, early printing of this acclaimed group of four poems by the famed poet. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Author photograph by Steve Dunwell.
Price: $35.00 Item Number: 145178
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"And say simply Very simply With hope Good morning": First Edition of The Inaugural Poem; Inscribed by Maya Angelou
ANGELOU, Maya [Bill Clinton].
On the Pulse of Morning: The Inaugural Poem.
New York: Random House, 1993.
First edition of the poem that Maya Angelou read at the Inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton on January 20, 1993. Small octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "____ ____ Joy Maya Angelou." Fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 3972
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First edition of Guillaume Apollinaire's Poems (1898-1913); inscribed by him and Pablo Picasso
APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. [Pablo Picasso].
Alcools: Poems (1898-1913). Avec un Portrait de L’Auteur par Pablo Picasso.
Paris: Mercure de France, 1913.
First edition of Apollinaire's first collection of poems, signed by him and Pablo Picasso. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and raised bands to the spine, patterned endpapers, frontispiece portrait of the poet by Pablo Picasso. Association copy, inscribed by both Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso on front free endpaper, "A A P.N. Roinard son admirateur Guillaume Apollinaire" and "et pour Robert Valançay Picasso Paris Janvier 1940 et I." Apollinaire has also made five corrections to the text in ink on pages 71, 77, 92, 110 and 189. The recipient of Apollinaire's inscription, Paul-Napoléon Roinard, was a French…
Price: $35,000.00 Item Number: 128083
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"The clouds are on the oberland, the jungfrau snows look faint and far; but bright are those green fields at hand and through those fields comes down the Aar": First edition of Matthew Arnold's New Poems
ARNOLD, Matthew.
New Poems.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1867.
First edition of Arnold's 1867 book of poems. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, double gilt ruling to the panels. In near fine condition. Rare with only a handful of examples appearing at auction in the last 80 years.
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 124039
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"Here will I sit and wait, While to my ear from uplands far away The bleating of the folded flocks is borne, With distant cries of reapers in the corn– All the live murmur of a summer's day": First edition of Matthew Arnold's The Scholar-Gipsy and Thyrsis
ARNOLD, Matthew.
The Scholar-Gipsy and Thyrsis.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1906.
First edition of this collection of two of Arnold's most notable works. Octavo, original cloth stamped in gilt, with illustrations by E. H. New including tissue-guarded frontispiece. In near fine condition.
Price: $100.00 Item Number: 124356
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First Edition of John Ashbery’s Pulitizer Prize-Winning Work; Signed by him
ASHBERY, John.
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.
New York: The Viking Press, 1975.
First edition of the author's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by John Ashbery on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Michael Teague. Jacket design by Jacqueline Schuman. An exceptional example.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 110844
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Lincoln: The Literary Genius
BARZUN, Jacques.
Lincoln: The Literary Genius.
Evanston, IL: Evanston Publishing Company, 1960.
Signed limited edition, one of only 120 numbered copies. Octavo, original full calf, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, raised bands, marbled endpapers, frontispiece. In fine condition.
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 144299
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First Edition of The Illustrated Poems of John Betjeman; Inscribed by British Artist David Gentleman with an Autograph Letter also Signed by Him
BETJEMAN, John; David Gentleman.
The Illustrated Poems of John Betjeman. [WITH] Autograph Letter Signed by David Gentleman.
London: John Murray, 1995.
First edition of this humorous collection of intimate poems, illustrated with charming watercolors by one of England's most familiar artists. Medium octavo, original boards, illustrated throughout. Presentation copy, inscribed by the artist, "For Gill Sandilands with all good wishes from David Gentleman." Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Accompanied by an autograph letter signed by Gentleman to Miss Sandilands, offering her this book. One page on his Gloucester Crescent stationary, the letter reads in full, "22 March 1995, Dear Gill, I am really ashamed of having neglected your kind messages and invitation last year, and of being to inconsiderate.…
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 147100
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Rare Broadside of North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell; Signed by Elizabeth Bishop
BISHOP, Elizabeth.
North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell.
Northridge, CA: Richard Bigus for the Lord John Press, 1979.
Memorial broadside, signed by Elizabeth Bishop, one of only 150 examples. It measures 21 inches by 14.5 inches. Framed, signature lightly faded, small stain to the bottom edge. Rare.
Price: $2,250.00 Item Number: 143985
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Rare Broadside of North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell; Signed by Elizabeth Bishop
BISHOP, Elizabeth.
North Haven: In Memoriam Robert Lowell.
Northridge, CA: Richard Bigus for the Lord John Press, 1979.
Memorial broadside, signed by Elizabeth Bishop, one of only 150 examples. It measures 20.75 inches by 14 inches. In near fine condition. Rare.
Price: $2,800.00 Item Number: 146196
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BLENCOWE (MRS.) EDITED BY,.
The Casket, a Miscellany, Consisting of Unpublished Poems.
London, John Murray, 1829.
First edition. Octavo, original boards with leather spine. In good condition. An anthology of original work by Praed, Montgomery, Rogers, Hodgson, Moore, and Wordsworth. Also contains a Lord Byron unpublished poem.
Price: $200.00 Item Number: 1610
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First edition of The Oxford Book of Poetry for Children; profusely illustrated by Brian Wildsmith and elaborately bound in full morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe
BLISHEN, Edward. Illustrated by Brian Wildsmith.
Oxford Book of Poetry for Children.
London: Oxford University Press, 1963.
First edition of Blishen and Wildsmith's acclaimed illustrated compilation of children's poetry. Quarto, bound in full crushed red morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling and fleuron cornerpieces to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With illustrations by Brian Wildsmith. In fine condition.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 129349
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"The best-printed American writer": First edition of Joseph Blumenthal's Robert Frost and His Printers
BLUMENTHAL, Joseph.
Robert Frost and His Printers.
Autin: W. Thomas Taylor, 1985.
First edition of this work on Frost's relationships with his printers. Large octavo, original cloth, illustrated. One of 1000 copies printed at the letterpress of A. Colish with plates made and printed by the Meriden Gravure Company. Typography by Joseph Blumenthal. Fine in a fine slipcase.
Price: $75.00 Item Number: 121466
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"Kabir says: Listen, my friend there is one thing in the world that satisfies, and that is a meeting with the guest": First edition of Robert Bly's The Kabir Book; inscribed by him
BLY, Robert.
The Kabir Book: Forty-Four of the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir.
Boston: The Seventies Press, 1977.
First edition, review copy with the publisher's review slips laid in. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "For Regan, Robert Bly." Bly has added a drawing. Fine in a fine dust jacket.
Price: $200.00 Item Number: 123768
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Giovanni Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, Poema
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni.
Il Filostrato, Poema.
Paris: Presso Franc. Ambr. Didot Il Miaggiore, 1789.
Eighteenth century edition of this marvelous narrative poem. Octavo, bound in three quarter contemporary brown calf over blue marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, marbled endpapers, original silk ribbon laid in. In good condition with rubbing to the extremities, spine, front and rear panels, some loss to the calf binding and very light toning throughout.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 146404
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Rare first edition set of Finden's Landscape & Portrait Illustrations to the Life and Works of Lord Byron; uniformly bound with Finden's Byron Beauties
BROCKEDON, W. [Lord George Gordon Noel Byron].
Finden’s Landscape & Portrait Illustrations, to the Life and Works of Lord Byron. [with] Finden’s Byron Beauties: or, the Principal Characters in Lord Byron’s Poems.
London: John Murray, 1833-1834; 1836.
First edition in book form of Finden's celebrated illustrated edition of Byron's works; uniformly bound with a first edition of Finden's Byron Beauties. Octavo, four volumes bound in full pebbled calf with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, elaborate gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt. Finden's Landscape & Portrait Illustrations to the Life and Works of Lord Byron is illustrated with 129 engraved plates including illustrated title pages. Finden's Byron Beauties is illustrated with 39 engraved plates. In very good condition. A unique example of this important set in the Byron canon.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 130405
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"When writing of authors, show them, if you can, in their relation to life as well as their relation to literature": First edition of Hilton Brown's Rudyard Kipling: A New Appreciation
BROWN, Hilton. Foreword by Frank Swinnerton.
Rudyard Kipling: A New Appreciation.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1945.
First edition of Brown's appreciation of the legendary Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece portrait of Kipling. In very good condition.
Price: $12.00 Item Number: 136157
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"The swallow has set her six young on the rail, and looks sea-ward: The waters stripes like a snake, olive-pale to the leeward": First edition of Robert Browning's Dramatis Personae
BROWNING, Robert.
Dramatis Personae.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1864.
First edition of Browning's popular poetry collection. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition. Ownership inscription. Small chip to the front free endpaper. With a note from H. Sotheran & Co. laid in.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 124109
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"No artist lives and loves, that longs not Once, and only once, and for one only": First edition of Robert Browning's Men and Women
BROWNING, Robert.
Men and Women.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1855.
First edition of one of Browning's finest collections, in the primary binding with pale cream-colored endpapers. Octavo, two volumes, original publisher's olive green cloth stamped in blind, gilt titles to the spines. In good condition. Housed in a custom slipcase.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 136291
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“Time is counted, not by hours, but by heart-beats": The Poetical Works of Robert Browning; finely bound in full polished tree calf
BROWNING, Robert.
The Poetical Works of Robert Browning.
London: Smith, Elder. & Co, 1897.
Finely bound example of Browning's collected poetical works. Octavo, two volumes bound into one in full polished calf, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Browning to each volume. In very good condition.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 138644
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Rare autograph poem sent by William Cullen Bryant to his publisher George R. Graham
BRYANT, William Cullen.
William Cullen Bryant Autograph “The Voice of Autumn” Poem Signed.
November 21, 1853: .
Rare autograph poem in the hand of William Cullen Bryant sent by him to magazine publisher George R. Graham for inclusion in his literary periodical Graham's Magazine with the accompanying transmittal letter from Bryant to Graham. Quarto, two pages. Addressed to George R. Graham, the letter reads in part, "New York Monday Nov. 21, 1853 My dear Sir, I send you on the other leaf a poem for Graham's Magazine. I hope it will reach you for your purpose. I am Sir very truly yours W. C. Bryant." The first stanzas of the poem read, "The Voice of Autumn by…
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 142753
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"How fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I; And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry": The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns; decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting
BURNS, Robert.
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. [Fore-edge Painting]
London: George Routledge & Sons, 1867.
Finely bound example of the poetical works of Robert Burns decorated with a concealed fore-edge painting. Octavo, bound in full crushed levant morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, decorated with a concealed for-edge painting of a portrait of Burns, illustrated with numerous engravings by Birket Foster, Harrison, Weir, etc. In very good condition. Rare.
Price: $1,150.00 Item Number: 138654
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“But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever": The Complete Works of Robert Burns; Finely Bound
BURNS, Robert.
The Complete Works of Robert Burns.
London: Blackie, 1888.
The works of Robert Burns, finely bound. Octavo, 5 volumes, bound in full morocco, gilt titles and elaborate tooling to the spine, front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated throughout. Edited by Charles Annandale. In near condition. An exceptional set.
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 140918
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"Ae fond kiss, and then we sever! Ae farewell alas, for ever!": The large paper issue of The Complete Poems of Robert Burns
BURNS, Robert; Introduction by John Buchan.
The Complete Writings of Robert Burns.
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1926.
The Large-Paper edition of the complete works of Robert Burns. Royal octavo, ten volumes bound in three quarter contemporary dark blue crushed morocco by the Riverside Press with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, top edge gilt, ribbons bound in, illustrated with tissue-guarded engravings, some in color, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece portrait of Robert Burns after a painting by Alexander Nasmyth in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh to the first volume. One of seven hundred and fifty copies for the United States of America and fifty copies for Great Britain, this is…
Price: $3,000.00 Item Number: 147505
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S. H. M. Byer's The March to the Sea; Inscribed by the author to Philemon Tecumseh Sherman
BYERS, S. H. M.
The March to the Sea: A Poem.
Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1896.
Early edition of this historically significant poem and song; from the library of Philemon Tecumseh Sherman. Octavo, original green cloth, botanical endpapers. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front flyleaf, "To P.T. Sherman; the son of the general who made the great march: with many good wishes from - the author - S. H. M. Byers." Additionally signed by Sherman on the front pastedown above his bookplate. The recipient, Philemon Tecumseh Sherman, the son of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, transferred his library and books inherited from his father to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch, before he…
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 146574
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The Poetical Works of Lord Byron; finely bound with a fore-edge painting
BYRON, George Gordon [Lord].
The Poetical Works of Lord Byron. [Fore-edge Painting].
London: John Murray, 1850.
Finely bound edition of the complete poetical works of Lord Byron. Octavo, bound in full crushed red morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, quadruple gilt ruling and fleuron cornerpieces to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-in and inner dentelles, patterned endpapers, illustrated, frontispiece portrait of Byron. Decorated with a fore-edge painting depicting a portrait of Byron and a landscape. In very good condition.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 135627
