Poetry
Rare Poetry Books & First-Edition Poetry Books for Sale Online
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"For secret doubt and open slight the mercy, lord, be for the right!": Scarce First separate edition of Rudyard Kipling's "After" A False Start
KIPLING, Rudyard.
“After” A False Start.
At the Sign of the George, 1924.
First Separate edition of Kipling's "After", the first draft of the poem that would later become The Recessional, being a facsimile of a hand-written note retrieved from Kipling's wastebasket which was later donated to the Harvard College Library. One page, folded. In fine condition. Scarce.
Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 123514
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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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Rare Signed limited edition of E. E. Cummings' untitled work
CUMMINGS, E. E.
[No Title]. [An Imaginary Dialogue Between Almost Any Publisher and a Certain Author A.D. 1930].
New York: Covici Friede Publishers, 1930.
First edition and signed limited edition of Cumming's cleverly titled untitled work. Quarto, original cloth stamped in silver, illustrated with 8 full-page drawings by the author. One of 491 copies signed by the author on the colophon, this is number 144. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Small bookplate designed by Rockwell Kent. One of the more elusive Cummings titles.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 136284
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"I dwell in a lonely house I know, that vanished many summer ago": Robert Frost's A Boy's Will; signed and dated by him
FROST, Robert.
A Boy’s Will.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1934.
Second American edition of Frost's first published work. Octavo, original beige linen cloth, engraved title page. Signed and dated by the poet on the title page, "Robert Frost February 25 1936." In very good condition. Small ownership name.
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 130124
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First edition of A Collection of Poems, Mostly Original, by Several Hands; finely bound in full calf
GOLDSMITH, Oliver; Edmund Burke; Sir H. Walpole; et al.
A Collection of Poems, Mostly Original, by Several Hands.
Dublin: Printed for the Editor by M. Graisberry, 1789.
First edition of this rare collection of early English literature. Octavo, bound in full calf, elaborate gilt tooling to the spine, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, ribbon bound in, illustrated with engraved vignettes, lists of subscribers. In near fine condition. An attractive binding.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 137226
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“Reality is always at the edge of the abyss, hung from the thread of a thought”; Octavio Paz's A Draft of Shadows; Warmly Inscribed by Him
PAZ, Octavio.
A Draft of Shadows.
New York: A New Directions Book, 1979.
Early printing of this collection of poems published in English and Spanish. Octavo, original wrappers. Association copy, inscribed by the author to friend and fellow writer Sergio Muñoz Bata, "A Sergio, con vivasimpatia, ser muco amigo, Octavio Paz." Bata writes a weekly syndicated column published in 18 newspapers across 11 countries in the hemisphere. He is also both a former Los Angeles Times editorial board member and Executive Editor of La Opinión. In near fine condition. A wonderful association.
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 133278
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First Edition of A Further Range; Inscribed by Robert Frost to His Publisher
FROST, Robert.
A Further Range.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1936.
First edition of Frost’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of verse. Octavo, original maroon cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper to his publisher, "To Herbert Bristol with an authors acknowledgement to his publisher Robert Frost 1936." Bristol was the president and publisher at the Henry Holt and Company. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. An exceptional association.
Price: $1,500.00 Item Number: 114778
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First Edition of A Further Range; Signed by Robert Frost
FROST, Robert.
A Further Range.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1936.
First edition of Frost’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of verse. Octavo, original maroon cloth. Boldly signed by Robert Frost on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $600.00 Item Number: 138056
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First edition of Ralph Durand's A Handbook of the Poetry of Rudyard Kipling
DURAND, Ralph. [Rudyard Kipling].
A Handbook of the Poetry of Rudyard Kipling.
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1914.
First edition of Durand's definitive handbook to Kipling's poetry. Royal octavo, original quarter buckram over paper-covered boards, paper spine label, top edge gilt. In very good condition.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 126349
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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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“CONTEMPLATE TRUTH UNTIL IT BURNS YOUR EYES OUT”: Signed Limited First Edition of Robert Frost's A Masque of Mercy; in the rare original dust jacket
FROST, Robert.
A Masque of Mercy.
New York: Henry Holt, 1947.
Signed limited first edition, one of 751 numbered copies, this is number 690. Octavo, original half cloth. Fine in the rare original dust jacket which is in very good condition and the original slipcase which is in near fine condition.
Price: $1,150.00 Item Number: 110648
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First Edition of A Masque of Reason; Inscribed by Robert Frost
FROST, Robert.
A Masque of Reason.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945.
First edition of this work by Frost. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Robert Frost to Samuel Plotkin." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $550.00 Item Number: 97478
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"These are our regulations - there's just one law for the scout, and the first and the last, and the present and the past, and the future and the perfect is 'Look out!'" Scarce separate edition of Rudyard Kipling's A Patrol Song
KIPLING, Rudyard.
A Patrol Song.
New York: Doubleday, Page & Co, 1909.
Scarce separate edition of Kipling's song for the Boy Scouts. Octavo, original wrappers. One of only 20 copies printed by Doubleday for copyright purposes. In near fine condition. Bookplate. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise case. Scarce.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 120708
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First Edition of Rudyard Kipling's A Song of The English; With 30 Mounted Color Plates by W. Heath Robinson
KIPLING, Rudyard.
A Song of The English.
London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1909.
First edition of this wonderfully illustrated work by Robinson. Quarto, original blue cloth, gilt pictorial to the front panel, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson with 30 mounted color plates, lettered tissue guards. In near fine condition.
Price: $300.00 Item Number: 120821
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Rare First Edition of Sylvia Plath's A Winter Ship; One of only 60 Copies
PLATH, Sylvia.
A Winter Ship.
Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1960.
First edition of Plath's first separately printed poem, one of only 60 copies. Octavo, original marbled wrappers with printed title label in a ruled border pasted to front cover. In fine condition. One of only perhaps sixty copies produced by Alan Anderson, owner of the Tragara Press, this work constituted the first separate printing of Plath's work. Plath herself requested the removal of her name from the title, writing in June of 1960, "We thought we'd like the date, place and press in upright letters, as on the other proof, and my name deleted – as I'll write that on…
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 132110
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"MEN IN PAJAMAS SITTING ABAFT THE FUNNEL AND SWAPPING LIES OF THE PURPLE SEAS": FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF RUDYARD KIPLING'S ABAFT THE FUNNEL
KIPLING, Rudyard.
Abaft the Funnel.
New York: B. W. Dodge & Company, 1909.
First edition, first issue of of Kipling’s 1909 short story collection with gold lettering to the spine and front panel. Octavo, original blue cloth with gold titles to the spine and front panel. In fine condition.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 122911
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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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Signed Limited Edition of Pablo Neruda's Alturas de Macchu Picchu
NERUDA, Pablo and Martin Chambi.
Alturas de Macchu Picchu.
Chile: Nascimento, 1954.
Signed limited edition of Neruda's masterpiece. Quarto, original illustrated wrappers as issued, photographs by Martin Chambi. Signed by Pablo Neruda at the colophon as issued. In near fine condition. Laid in is the scarce insert on green paper that was issued with all copies, which is a bibliographic note on the genesis and publication history of the poem by Jorge Sanhueza. This is the first definitive edition of the poems, including the Chambi photographs referenced in "The Latin American Photobook. A superior example, rare in this condition.
Price: $3,800.00 Item Number: 77014
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First edition of Ambergris: A Selection From the Poems; inscribed by Aleister Crowley to English Zionist Sir Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett
CROWLEY, Aleister.
Ambergris: A Selection From the Poems.
London: Elkin Mathews, 1910.
First edition of this scarce collection of Crowley's poetry. Octavo, original publisher's boards lettered in gilt, rebacked, frontispiece portrait. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the rear free endpaper, "Henry Mond from Aleister Crowley." The recipient, Sir Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett was an English politician, industrialist and Zionist. He served as Member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely 1923-24 as a Liberal and deputy chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries from 1940 to 1947. Having been brought up in the Church of England, he reverted in the 1930s to his family's original Judaism and became a champion…
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 146395
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Limited First Edition English Translation of St. J. Perse's Anabasis; Signed by T. S. Eliot
ELIOT, T.S.
Anabasis: A Poem by St. J. Perse.
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…
Price: $1,750.00 Item Number: 145470
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"To-day belongs to me, To-morrow who can tell. Ah, cruel 'tis to love, And cruel not to love, But cruelest of all To love and love in vain": First Nonesuch Press Edition of the Anacreon
COWLEY, Abraham.
Anacreon, done into English out of the original Greek by Abraham Cowley and S.B. 1683.
Soho: Nonesuch Press, 1923.
First Nonesuch Press limited edition of the Odes of Anacreon. Octavo, bound in three quarters vellum over gold paper-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine, illustrated with four full-page tissue-guarded copperplate engravings of Cupid, Bathyllus, Europa, & Venus, headpieces, and tailpieces by Stephen Gooden. One of only 725 copies produced, this is number 680. In very good condition.
Price: $125.00 Item Number: 100305
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"We find comfort only in another beauty, in others music": First Edition of Adam Zagajewski's Another Beauty; Signed by Him
ZAGAJEWSKI, Adam.
Another Beauty.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
First edition of the author's memoirs. Octavo, original half cloth. Lengthily signed by the author on the title page with the following line from this work, which reads, "We find comfort only in another beauty, in others music Adam Zagajewski." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Marc J. Cohen. Translated by Clare Cavanagh. A unique example.
Price: $450.00 Item Number: 84787
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First Edition of Another Beauty; Inscribed by Adam Zagajewski
ZAGAJEWSKI, Adam.
Another Beauty.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
First edition of the author's memoirs. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Matthew Adam Zagajewski Boston, October 2004." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Marc J. Cohen. Translated by Clare Cavanagh.
Price: $150.00 Item Number: 147467
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"I was born to a vocation to bear witness to the great mysteries": First edition of Ararat; inscribed by Louise Glück to fellow poet Stuart Dischell
GLUCK, Louise.
Ararat.
New York: The Ecco Press, 1990.
First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author's collection of poetry, prompted by the death of her father. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the poet opposite the half-title page, "For Stuart I look forward to your new work, I wish you all good fortune - Louise." The recipient, Stuart Dischell is a fellow poet and friend of Gluck. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by Michaela Sullivan. Jacket illustration by Christa Näher.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 124951
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"I was born to a vocation to bear witness to the great mysteries": First edition of Ararat; inscribed by Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück
GLUCK, Louise.
Ararat.
New York: The Ecco Press, 1990.
First edition of the Nobel Prize-winning author's collection of poetry, prompted by the death of her father. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author opposite the half-title page, "For ____ ____ with best wishes Louise Gluck." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by Michaela Sullivan. Jacket illustration by Christa Näher.
Price: $750.00 Item Number: 138219
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"Words, if you let them, will do what they want to do and what they have to do": First Edition of Carson Anne's Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse
CARSON, Anne.
Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.
First edition of “this amazing love story” (The New York Times Book Review). Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson.
Price: $375.00 Item Number: 146927
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"Set in this stormy Northern sea, Queen of these restless fields of tide, England! what shall men say of thee, Before whose feet the worlds divide?" Rare first edition of Oscar Wilde's Ave Imperatrix!
WILDE, Oscar.
Ave Imperatrix! A Dirge of Empire by Oscar Wilde.
Washington: Snohomish, 1902.
First edition of Wilde's classic Hellenic poem. Octavo, original boards, illustrated with engravings and hand painted initials embellished in gilt, frontispiece by John Dennis Clancy. In very good condition.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 140214
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First Edition of Bacchylides Complete Poems; Signed by Translator Robert Fagles
FAGLES, Robert.
Bacchylides Complete Poems.
First edition of this translation of this classic text. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by translator Robert Fagles on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Foreword by Sir Maurice Bowra. Introduction and notes by Adam M. Parry.
Price: $350.00 Item Number: 136979
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Sir Walter Scott's Ballads; Finely bound in full morocco with a spectacular double fore-edge painting
SCOTT, Sir Walter.
Ballads and Lyrical Pieces. [Fore-edge Painting].
Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne Co, 1819.
Finely bound example of Scott's Ballads and Lyrical Pieces. Octavo, bound in full morocco with gilt titles and elaborate gilt tooling to spine, elaborate gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, all edges gilt with a spectacular double fore-edge painting revealing scenes of Warwick Castle and Edinburgh. In very good condition with the fore-edge painting exceptionally bright and detailed.
Price: $1,250.00 Item Number: 131528
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"Oh south winds have long memories": First edition of Howard Weeden's Bandanna Ballads; signed and inscribed three times by Joel Chandler Harris who contributed the introduction
WEEDEN, Howard. [Maria Howard Weeden; Joel Chandler Harris].
Bandanna Ballads.
New York: Doubleday & McClure Company, 1899.
First edition of Maria Howard Weeden's best-known collection of poems. Octavo, original cloth decorated in gilt, illustrated by the author, tissue-guarded frontispiece. Introduction by Joel Chandler Harris. Presentation copy, inscribed by Harris on the flyleaf, "Faithfully yours: Joel Chandler Harris Atlanta Ga.: 6 September 1900." Additionally signed by him on the title page and at the conclusion of the introduction. In fine condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Rare and desirable.
Price: $2,850.00 Item Number: 133067
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"I have eaten your bread and salt, I have drunk your water and wine, the deaths ye died I have watched beside, and the lives that ye led were mine": Scarce early printing of Rudyard Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses
KIPLING, Rudyard.
Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses Together With Departmental Ditties.
New York: United States Book Company, 1892.
Scarce early printing of perhaps Kipling’s most popular poetry collection. Octavo, original wrappers as issued. In near fine condition. Exceptionally rare.
Price: $400.00 Item Number: 119266
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"On the road to Mandalay, Where the flyin'-fishes play, An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer; China 'crost the Bay!": Scarce unauthorized edition of Rudyard Kipling's Barack-Room Ballads
KIPLING, Rudyard.
Barrack-Room Ballads.
1892.
Scarce unauthorized edition of perhaps Kipling's most popular poetry collection. Octavo, original wrappers. In very good condition. This collection was so popular upon publication in 1892 it was pirated in a small number of unauthorized editions which were sold on the streets of London and quickly suppressed. Housed in a custom chemise case. Scarce.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 120604
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 2000.
First edition of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 142139
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
First edition of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and ruling to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $1,100.00 Item Number: 142996
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Signed by Him
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
First edition of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by Seamus Heaney on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket painting by Barrie Cooke. Author photograph by Caroline Forbes. A very sharp example.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 142391
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"Behaviour that's admired is the path to power among people everywhere": First Edition of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
HEANEY, Seamus.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999.
First edition, early printing of this work by the Nobel Prize-winning author. Octavo, original boards. Boldly signed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Seamus Heaney 13 March 2002 Sutton House." Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket painting by Barrie Cooke. Author photograph by Caroline Forbes.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 142416
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Signed limited editions of Robert Graves' Beyond Giving, The Green Sailed Vessel, Timeless Meeting, and At The Gate
GRAVES, Robert.
Beyond Giving, The Green Sailed Vessel, Timeless Meeting, and At The Gate.
London: Privately Printed at the Stellar Press, 1969-1974.
Signed limited editions of four volumes of Graves' collected verse, written between 1969 and 1974. Octavo, four volumes, original stiff paper wrappers. Each volume is one of 500 numbered copies signed by Robert Graves. In near fine condition. An attractive collection.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 115104
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Black Feeling Black Talk Black Judgement; signed by Nikki Giovanni
GIOVANNI, Nikki.
Black Feeling Black Talk Black Judgement.
New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc, 1970.
First edition, early printing of the award-winning poet's early collection or poetry. Octavo. original wrappers. Signed by the poet on the half-title page. In near fine condition.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 135432
