Poetry 1860 - 2010 (One Line)
This catalogue, and its accompanying ‘bookshelf exhibition’ at CASSIUS&Co., are intended to chart a particular line through the last 150 years of poetry in Europe and America. I say particular because it is by no means definitive, which wouldn’t be possible anyway, and readers will note some obvious omissions. Clearly this is not a proposal for a canon, it is simply one subjective line through a form of art I love, hopefully the first of further such lines, exhibitions and catalogues of poetry at CASSIUS&Co. in the future.
This particular line is a spirally, looping one, one which connects one thing to the next in a way that is sometimes obvious and necessary and sometimes flimsy at best, and one which is roughly chronological but which keeps doubling back on itself - what can you do when the Plastic Poems of Katue Kitasono and John Betjeman’s little odes to England are appearing in the same year? It is a line pulled along by a handful of axioms that seem to tug it in one direction after another: the structure of form, which will be successively exploded, rebuilt, then exploded again, and the scale of avant-gardism and traditionalism, which slides back and forth throughout. It is a line which touches on a vast array of isms that would be impossible and pointless to map, and none of which I hope are given excessive weight over the others. This is not a line which is leading anywhere, nor one which can be said to have peaks and troughs of inarguable quality: all these poets are precious in their own right and their works are treasures for the centuries.
In the end, despite the length of this line and the quite large span of time it weaves through, I am struck more by the similarities than the differences between the first item in this catalogue, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and the last, Derek Walcott’s White Egrets. Despite all that pushing and pulling of form and structure and content that has gone on in between, despite the bickering of the avant-garde and the classical, the romantic and the concrete, the 150 years of pivots, revolts and exchange, it still feels like the end of this catalogue is remarkably similar to its beginning. They are two different men roving through words in search of an authentic vernacular, a voice that is their own. Maybe that applies on some level to all the works in this catalogue, however much they use or abuse the poetry around them, however diverse the results. Poetry, or good poetry anyway, is like all good art - a searching for, not a finding of, that particular, spiralling line.
All items are offered subject to availability and I would request that payment is made in advance. While the small number of unusually heavy items may require some special arrangement, I can generally offer free shipping in the UK and for a fee of £25 overseas. If you would like to see some further images or if you have any questions about the items, please don’t hesitate to contact me using the information below.
Fraser Brough Director, CASSIUS&Co. 63 Kinnerton Street, London, SW1X 8ED 0207 235 3354 fb@cassiusandco.com
1. WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass.
A good beginning because it never ended, Leaves of Grass, the life’s work of Walt Whitman, began as a self-published collection of 12 poems that he would add to and revise for the rest of his life, leaving a collection of over 400 works at the time of his death. This is the first edition to be published by someone other than the poet himself, appearing in 1860 in this handsome production by Thayer and Eldridge of Boston which, in a portentous sign of the economic outlook of nearly all the books in this catalogue, swiftly went bankrupt, and barely paid the poet. The two self-published versions which had appeared before this have been given a further 100 additional works, including the seminal Song of Myself, among the most enduring works of American poetry.
£7,000
2. BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Les Fleurs du Mal.
The primary work of the great French poet, published here in two beautifully-produced books by the Limited Editions Club. The first has the poems in the original French and is illustrated with works by Auguste Rodin, and the second, English translation is illustrated by the lascivious Jacob Epstein. Interestingly, while the second was supposed to be sent to subscribers of the Limited Editions Club soon after the first, the outbreak of World War II meant that the books were abandoned in a warehouse in France and forgotten about for seven years. After the war they were found, and all that time later, dutifully sent out as planned. Photos of these are available on request (it is out on loan at the time of publishing).
£400
3. RIMBAUD, Arthur, illus. MAPPLETHORPE, Robert. A Season in Hell.
The visionary child-poet’s incendiary and hallucinogenic prose poem, here translated by Paul Schmidt and illustrated with photogravures by Robert Mapplethorpe, a salacious pairing. Bound in decadent red Morocco, this is a Fine first edition thus published by the Limited Editions Club in New York in 1986, making it a friendly companion for item 2.
£1,500
4. APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. Alcools. Poèmes 1898
- 1913.
Sometimes described as the first truly Modernist work of poetry, or the literary equivalent of Cubism (a term which Apollinaire himself had coined), Alcools is indispensable to the changing shape of poetry in the 20th century, and probably Apollinaire’s foremost achievement. The works were written during a wild period of culture in Paris that had Apollinaire at its centre: he was Picasso’s prime literary muse in these years and a portrait of him by the artist is included here - they were also arrested together for the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. This is the true first edition published by Mercure de France in 1913 in a run of 1000 of which this is number 766. It is also a nice segue into the following Surrealist items, another art term that the poet is said to have coined before his early death in 1918. An excellent copy.
£11,000
5. VARIOUS, Pierre a Feu.
Published by Maeght in 1947, this wonderful and beautifullyillustrated collection brings together works by the leading poets of Surrealism, including Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard and René Char, presented alongside lithographic images by Henri Matisse. This is number 40 of 999 numbered copies, and is, rarely, signed by Matisse. Near Fine, with bright fresh colours throughout.
£1,765
6. ELUARD, Paul and ERNST, Max. Les Malheurs des Immortels.
A landmark of Surrealism and the first genuine collaboration between two of the movement’s most important contributors. Combining Ernst’s images with Eluard’s poems, the work explores the relation between painting and poetry, ‘the role of the image as an icon of psychic processes and the ambivalent status of the scopic function, or the reversibility of blindness and revelation’.
Second edition (this is number 558 of the run of 1860) in Fine condition, signed by both Eluard and Ernst and intriguingly inscribed by Eluard (in French) ‘To Mr and Mrs Edwin and Sisler, this book, of which I did only a third’, possibly hinting at a third collaborator.
7. PICABIA, Francis. Thalassa dans le Désert.
Though most known as a painter Francis Picabia spent his life refusing definition (even as an avant-gardist, to the horror of some of his peers), and his talents as a writer, poet, and editor deserve serious revision. This rare and remarkably near Fine 35pp book of his poetry, largely in a Surrealist mode, is one of 500 numbered copies. The cover is by Mario Prassinos after a design by Max Ernst. Published by Fontaine, Paris, in 1945.
£200
8. CHAR, René. Premières Alluvions.
A nice companion for item 7, this is an under-known work by the archetypal Surrealist poet René Char, in Near Fine condition, and as with item 7 follows the Max Ernst cover design.
£160
9. DERLETH, August. Hawk on the Wind.
The first published collection of poetry by the prolific writer August Derleth, the friend and in some ways poetic counterpart of cult horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Derleth founded Arkham House Press the year after this publication. This is a presentation copy to an unknown recipient and includes a typed compliment slip, in an excellent state, with both the original dust jacket and promotional wraparound intact.
£225
10. UEDA, Makoto. Modern Japanese Poets.
In the small world of poetry exposure to a tradition so different to that of Europe had an outsize influence on the writers of the 20th century, the austere form and subtlety of expression found in Japanese poetry like a lightning bolt for many. The influence also went both ways, as charted in this rare analysis of the development of poetry in Japan in the 20th century, which focuses on the work of 8 poets: Takahashi Shinkichi, Miyazawa Kenji, Ishikawa Takuboku, Ogiwara Seisensui, Masaoka Shiki, Takamura Kotaro, Yasano Akiko and Hagiwara Sakutaro. 1st edition of the hardcover published by Stanford University Press in 1983. A scarce title.
£120
11. WALEY, Arthur (trans). Chinese Poems.
A reprint of the much-loved English scholar’s first publication, a translation of 52 classical Chinese poems, which he printed privately in 1916 and distributed among friends and colleagues, marking the start of a long and varied career that made him arguably the most important literary ambassador between East and West in the early 20th century. His work had great impact on his friends in the Bloomsbury Group in England, and also on Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, who made so much of their exposure to classical Chinese writing through Waley. Pristine.
£200
12. POUND, Ezra. The Cantos of Ezra Pound.
An intense and often challenging read, this is a book-length (and ultimately incomplete) poem in 116 sections, each a canto, written between 1915 and 1962, and is the great poet’s magnum opus. Nowadays one feels obliged to mention that Pound was unpleasant, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Cantos are a great and hugely influential work of 20th century poetry. This is the first edition published in 1964 by Faber and Faber, and is in Fine condition.
£200
13. POUND, Ezra. An Autobiographical Outline.
A Fine copy of this beautiful and fragile little pamphlet published by Nadja in 1980 in a run of 226, which reproduces the text of a 1930 letter written by Pound to Louis Untermeyer, an autobiography of sorts, in which he sought to ‘set the facts straight’. The letter was published in the Paris Review in the 1960s and this marks its first appearance in book form. £100
14. ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land.
Arguably the single most important work of poetry in the 20th century, which shattered form in a manner that is in the end elegant despite its complexity, restrained despite its grandeur, and often beautiful despite its deeply learned, academic posture. Still though, I enjoy this review from the Queen Mother, bless her: “We had this rather lugubrious man in a suit, and he read a poem. . . . I think it was called ‘The Desert.’ And first the girls got the giggles, and then I did and then even the King.” “ ‘The Desert,’ ma’am? Are you sure it wasn’t called ‘The Waste Land?’” “That’s it. I’m afraid we all giggled. Such a gloomy man, looked as though he worked in a bank, and we didn’t understand a word.” This is the true first edition, first printing, number 57 of 1000, with a trivial loss to the dust jacket’s spine but overall a remarkably Fine copy.
£POA
15. ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land.
Second printing of the first edition, published by Boni and Liveright, New York, in 1922, shortly after the true first listed above. The stated description as ‘Second edition’ is considered erroneous because it is identical and published from the first edition type, with the erratum ‘mount in’ instead of ‘mountain’ on p. 41 remaining. Number 353 of 1000 numbered copies. Though there are some losses to the edges of the dust jacket the book is overall in an excellent state, the binding tight and the pages clean throughout.
£4,500
16. ELIOT, T. S. The Waste Land.
A third copy of The Waste Land, this produced by the legendary Bloomsbury Group’s Hogarth Press, which was run by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, who hand-printed each of the 460 copies of this charming edition. An excellent copy overall, with just limited splitting to the always fragile spine. With the initials VB written on pencil on cover, suggesting that this copy was owned by Bloomsbury Group painter Vanessa Bell. £15,000
17. ELIOT, T. S. Poems, 1909 - 1925.
A Near Fine copy of the first edition of this important collection of Eliot’s early works (including Prufrock, The Waste Land and the Hollow Men, this last appearing here for the first time), with the scarce second state dust jacket. This marks the start of his relationship with the publisher Faber (then Faber & Gwyer), where he would himself later become editor as we shall see. £2,000
ELIOT, T. S. Ash Wednesday
Though Ash Wednesday does mark the shift to Eliot’s later style and turning to the church, there is I think a strong argument to read it, with its weighty anaphora and endless citations, as more of a continuation or even hardening of Eliot’s lifelong poetic project than a dramatic break. This is an essentially unique copy of the first US edition, beautifully published by Fountain Press, New York, in 1930, because of the 400 copies reserved for US sale that were printed at Curwen Press this is unnumbered and unsigned and bears the Curwen Press’ own library label affixed to the inside cover. The linenbacked boards bear a green pattern that differs from other published versions, suggesting this was a trial copy later kept for the house’s archive. £800
18.
19. ELIOT, T. S. Four Quartets.
The religiosity of the Four Quartets, which disappointed many of his peers, is actually one of the things that gives this amazing achievement, a meditation on unfathomable subjects like man’s relationship to time and the divine, its sincerity and its strength. The First complete edition published in Britain (it was preceded a year earlier by an American version, and before that the four sections had appeared individually), produced by Faber and Faber in 1944. A lovely copy, the dust jacket a little soiled and a small ownership signature inside.
£300
20. CRANE, Harold Hart. The Bridge.
Crane is a singular figure in American poetry in that he sought a Romantic voice in the era of high Modernism, and has come to be more and more admired for this singularity, particularly by poets towards the end of this catalogue. The Bridge is easily his most significant work, his answer to Eliot’s The Waste Land, and one which finds optimism and hope in his century where Eliot found only despair, which is sadly ironic given Eliot’s long life and Crane’s suicide at the age of 32. This edition comes from the Black Sun Press, as ever a beautiful edition printed on Holland Paper in a run of 284. Includes the original silver slipcase though this is a little damaged, otherwise an excellent copy of a scarce and much-loved title, made particularly special here because of the inclusion of three illustrative photographs by Crane’s friend, the iconic American photographer Walker Evans. £15,000
21. WILLIAMS, William Carlos. The Collected Earlier Poems and The Collected Later Poems.
This pair, published by New Directions in 1951 and 1963 respectively, the latter the revised edition, together form the essential overview of one of the most crucial American poets of the last century, whose famous red wheelbarrow and plums taken from the fridge seem as huge as whole novels and have become some of the enduring American poetic images of the 20th century. A charming set. £250
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. Paterson.
Though now he is celebrated most for his brevity, Paterson is Williams’ magnum opus, his answer to the magnum opuses of his peers (Eliot’s Waste Land and Pound’s Cantos spring to mind) and his grandest attempt to find a distinctly American poetic voice and pose for the 20th century. The result is this series of five books, published between 1946 and 1958 by New Directions, which take as their subject the town of Paterson, New Jersey, and ‘the resemblance between the mind of modern man and the city’, all told in a powerful vernacular. This is the complete set of first editions, all in Fine condition or close to it, with none of the soiling almost always seen on these textured dust jackets. Scarce, the first four volumes having been limited to 1000 copies and the fifth to 3000.
£6,000
22.
23. OLSON, Charles. The Maximus Poems.
The missing link between William Carlos Williams and the later Beats, a poet who was admired by both, Charles Olson’s Maximums Poems is an epic in the mode of Williams’ Paterson, focusing like it on one place, here the poet’s hometown of Gloucester, MA. The work can be understood as one poem despite the title, and employs a broad range of techniques from short strong images to reportage-like passages of prose. This is the first UK edition, published by Jargon/ Corinth and Cape Goliard Press in 1970, in pristine condition.
£150
24. MOORE, Marianne. The Pangolin and Other Verse.
A similarly important bridge in American poetry, who was admired by Pound, Eliot and Williams for her formal innovations and cutting honesty, which marries a haunting and incisive wit with some of the novel structures of her peers. The Pangolin is arguably her finest poem, and this is a Near Fine first edition, one of just 120 copies printed at the Curwen Press in 1936.
£1,300
25. GINSBERG, Allen. Collected Poems. 1947 - 1980.
The bulk of the poetic output of the great luminary of the Beat Generation collected in one handsome hardback tome. Though in many ways as connected to his forbears (the preceding items in this catalogue) as anyone, Ginsberg’s work does represent an important new spirit in poetry that makes him a pivot at the centre of this catalogue, ushering in new forms (notably his somewhat hallucinogenic stream-of-consciousness style) and new types of content, particularly the sexual and narcotic liberties and political activism of the Sixties. We have many more Ginsberg items available that haven’t been listed here - see our ‘Sixties’ catalogue for some of them. Published by Harper and Row in 1984, this contains most of the works published by City Lights as well as lesser known and smaller run pamphlets. A Fine copy, signed by Ginsberg and inscribed with a large AH, as was his custom.
£350
26.
LAMANTIA, Philip. Ekstasis.
Arguably the most significant work of this visionary poet (alongside his Erotic Poems), who was associated with the Beats and who read alongside Allen Ginsberg’s first declamation of Howl at San Francisco’s Six Gallery in 1955, but who remained somewhat singular and almost as interested in peyote and ancient religion as poetry. Published in San Francisco by the Auerhahn Press, 1959, this is the charming first edition, one of 950 copies, in Fine condition.
£500
27. CORSO, Gregory. Ten Times a Poem. Collected at Random From 2 Suitcases Filled with Poems - The Gatherings of 5 Years.
A great little book (12pp.) of Corso works that have been lithographically-printed from the artist’s own handwriting, complete with squiggles, crossings-out and diagrams that have a zodiacal/ mathematical theme. Number 16 from an edition of 150, this pristine copy is signed by the poet and includes a hand-written five-line poem which as far as we know has not appeared elsewhere.
£600
28. CALAIS, Jean (a.k.a. Stephen Rodefer). Villon.
A translation by Beat poet and scholar Stephen Rodefer, writing here under the pseudonym Jean Calais, of the poetry of Francois Villon, the most well-remembered French poet of the Middle Ages, who was also allegedly a murderer and a thief and who lived much of his life in exile. This Fine little book, the first edition thus, was published in 1981 by the Pick Pocket Series (a joke on Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Pocket Poets Series which published most Beat poetry), and is illustrated with photographs by the great André Kertész. £150
29. ANSEN, Allen. Disorderly Houses.
A perhaps under-appreciated associate of the Beats, Ansen was friends with all the major participants of the generation and at times played a mentor-like role. That he appears in Kerouac’s On the Road (as Rollo Greb), Corso’s American Express (as Dad Deform) and Burroughs’ The Naked Lunch (as AJ) is testament to his centrality, and his work as a scholar also provides a useful biographic link to the English poets that follow, serving as W. H. Auden’s research assistant in the late 1940s. Disorderly Houses is arguably his best work, appearing for the first time in 1961 in this neat publication by Wesleyan University’s Poetry Series. It is dedicated to Auden and William Burroughs.
£60
AKHMATOVA, Anna. Way of All the Earth.
Among the great poets of the Soviet Union, in which she lived all her life despite relentless persecution by the state (her first husband was executed, her second and her son both sent to die in gulags), partly in defiance and partly out of pride, thus embodying many of the complexities of her age and country while remaining witness, and translating that into powerful, singular poetry. This collection (translated into English by D. M. Thomas,) spans much of her life, 1909 - 1964, and includes works from both her early and late periods, which in her case are quite well-defined because of a ten year gap of near silence. First edition, near Fine, and signed by the translator.
30.
£60
31. QUENEAU, Raymond. Cent mille milliards de poèmes.
First printing of the first edition of this remarkable work which marked the beginning of the legendary Oulipo group in 1961, the French literary movement that employed mathematics and chance to produce a new type of literature. This is essentially 10 sonnets, with each line printed on its own strip of paper which the reader can turn at will, thus creating the One Hundred Million Million Poems. The writer described it as a ‘DIY kit for making poems: a limited number of poems, it is true, but sufficient nevertheless to keep the reader reading for almost two hundred million years .’ Signed and inscribed by the author to critic and writer Maurice Nadeau, an excellent copy.
£2,500
32. BECKETT, Samuel. Poèmes.
I include this because it seems wrong not to, but the geographical positioning in this catalogue remains a question unresolved, Beckett not fitting at all neatly anywhere on this particular line through 20th century poetry. Nonetheless, this 1968 book of poems, published in French the year before his Nobel Prize win, remains a
33. ASHBERY, John. Selected Poems.
As with the Beckett above, the positioning of this work here has been a source of some consternation, Ashbery being a singular figure in American poetry whose work does not quite sit with those of his contemporaries, it being of a more classical bent than, say, the Beats. He does though become a useful, if imperfect, segue into the following items of the poetic work coming out of England in the 20th century, which broke less with form and went stronger on Romanticism than their peers in the US. And anyway, Ashbery is a major figure that won’t be quickly forgotten, and this first edition of his Selected Poems published by Carcanet in 1985 is as good an overview of his contributions as any, and is signed by the poet on a pastedown to the frontispiece.
£300
34. BETJEMAN, John. A Few Late Chrysanthemums.
If Betjeman is an archetype of an English poet it is an archetype he himself played a large hand in creating: witty, eccentric, essentially conservative but without so much prudishness that his work is unpleasantly regressive; the word ‘quintessentially’ feels all but invented for him. In the end he is a figure who is hard not to like, and some of his lines and witticisms remain strong presences in the building of the English national character. A Few Late Chrysanthemums is a lovely work, and usefully divided into three sections - Medium, Light and Gloom - to be selected to suit the reader’s mood. This is the true first edition, charmingly published by John Murray in 1954, in an excellent state, pictured here without the dust jacket but this too is included, unclipped.
£250
35. BETJEMAN, John. A Nip in the Air.
Another nice thing about Betjeman is his popularity with the public during his lifetime, virtually unheard of for a poet and certainly not the ones in this catalogue. A Nip in the Air was his last poetry collection, written and published while he was Poet Laureate, and includes a number of officially commissioned works, such as the hilariously uninspired 14th November 1973 and A Ballad of the Investiture 1969, written to commemorate the Investiture of Prince Charles, but which spends much more time talking about the train journey to get the ceremony than the ceremony itself. Like the item above this is the true first edition, a similarly charming copy published by John Murray in 1974. Fine. £300
36. LARKIN, Philip. The North Ship.
This is the first Faber and Faber edition of Larkin’s debut collection, published here in 1966 after appearing twenty years earlier in a small run (less than 500) by Fortune Press, which subsequently published an unauthorised version that had to be removed from sale when the poet found out about it, probably souring already strained relations - Fortune Press did not pay its poets, and writers were obliged to buy a number of copies for themselves. The Faber version includes one additional work bringing the total to 31. £500
37. LARKIN, Philip. High Windows.
Larkin’s final collection of poems, including many of his most famous, the titular High Windows as well as perennial classic This Be The Verse. Larkin is in many ways the natural inheritor of Betjeman, whom he admired, and the slight darkness, slight smartness, slight social engagement of these poems remain crucial to the story of British poetry. This is the first edition, published by Faber and Faber in 1974. A Fine example.
£400
38.
AUDEN, W. H. Thank you, Fog.
The last poems of W. H. Auden, written in his final year of life, compiled and published posthumously by Edward Mendelson (though Auden had done much, including writing the title and dedication, already). This is the 1st edition, published in 1974 by Faber and Faber in London, in Fine condition with Fine dust jacket.
£85
39. SPENDER, Stephen and GILI, J. L. (trans). Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca.
The first edition, published in 1939 by Oxford University Press’ New Hogarth Library Series, which introduced the work of the great Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca to the English-speaking world, translated by fellow poet Stephen Spender and scholar J. L. Gili. A delightful copy.
£250
40. GRAHAM, W. S. The White Threshold.
Largely unnoticed in his lifetime, Scottish poet W. S. Graham was and is often connected with Dylan Thomas and George Barker as a kind of trilogy of Neo-Romantics, British poets who in the mid-20th century looked back to figures like Rimbaud, and wrote in praise of bucolic life while mostly living a Bohemian one in London. The White Threshold was published at the poet’s peak in 1949, by Faber and Faber at the behest of T. S. Eliot, who was then the house’s editor and who would publish Graham’s work for the rest of his life. £250
41. GRAHAM, W. S. Malcolm Mooney’s Land.
The first edition, published by Faber in 1970 and including a handwritten note from the poet to the publisher, seemingly requesting a further 6 copies be sent to him.
£180
42. BARKER, George. The True Confession of George Barker.
The last in this little section of new Romantics, Barker in particular is known for turning away from the realism of the 1930s toward more Surreal, mystical themes. At times he is so idiosyncratic that his work is just terrible, but when on form, as here in his accepted masterpiece The True Confession of George Barker, he is wildly original. This edition was produced by the great Parton Press and is a lovely clean copy. £60
43. HUGHES, Ted. Lupercal.
Taking the mysticism of the new Romantics and adding the darker, more cynical air that was his proclivity, Hughes is undoubtedly a major poet, one who won’t come off school syllabuses for a long time to come. His reputation is often darkened by the tragedy of his relationships, particularly with Sylvia Plath, but for me it is his images of Crow, and Horses, that have never been said so well since. This is his second collection of verse, the follow-up to the successful Hawk in the Rain, published in 1960, and includes the printed dedication ‘to Sylvia’ on the colophon. Very Good condition, just one small loss at the upper edge of the spine but otherwise an excellent copy. A lengthy inscription by a former owner appears on the last page. £200
44. HUGHES, Ted. Four Tales told by an Idiot.
A precious-feeling little publication produced by Martin Booth at Spectre Press comprising four haunting poems, published in an edition of 450 copies of which this is number 348. Fine.
£75
45. PLATH, Sylvia. The Colossus.
The only collection of Plath’s poetry that was published in her short lifetime. This is the first UK version, published by Faber and Faber in 1967. Near Fine.
£150
46. HEANEY, Seamus. Wintering Out.
Coming to the end of this short list of British poets both in chronology and form, Heaney can be said to have taken the naturalism of Hughes and the Neo Romantics before him and found a new openness of poetic structure, helped no doubt by time spent living in California, where Wintering Out was written. This is the first edition (paperback) of this pivotal work, which he later described as having a feeling of ‘loosening, the California spirit, a more relaxed movement to the verse’. Published by Faber and Faber, 1972, an association copy, including a typed and signed letter from Rosemary Goad, editor of Faber and Faber, to the Royal Society of Literature submitting the work for consideration in its annual award.
£
800
47. HEANEY, Seamus. The Spirit Level.
An uncorrected publisher’s proof for the first Faber edition published in 1996, the poet’s first collection to appear after winning the Nobel Prize, and which won him the Whitbread Prize that year. In pristine condition.
£400
48. JOHNSON, B. S. Poems Two.
While his fame has ebbed and flowed since his death by suicide in the 1970s, Johnson’s relentless inventiveness and ahead-of-histimedness remain undiminished. His playful experimentation with form is most known through his novels, but he applied the same spirit to the field of poetry several times in his life, as here in Poems Two, a sort of sequel to his Poems. While form is here tinkered with there remains much emotive content, connecting him both with the English poets listed above and the exploded forms that follow. This is the paperback first edition, published by Trigram Press in ‘the year of the rat’ 1972.
£200
49. FINLAY, Ian Hamilton. Telegrams from my Windmill.
The introduction here of so-called ‘concrete’ poetry, or ‘shaped poetry’, was in some ways a groundbreaking adjustment of form, and in others a turning back to experimental figures of the past, Mallarmé most obviously springing to mind. It is interesting to think that the major proponent of this style in Britain was Ian Hamilton Finlay, who was obsessed with the Classical world. For all their looking forward and quest for the new, these works do also look back. This is a Fine 1st edition of Finlay’s Telegrams from my Windmill, an early collection of typewriter poems. This copy is signed and dedicated to ‘Pierre’, possibly fellow ‘concrete’ poet Dom Sylvester Houédard, also known as dsh, whose real first name was Pierre, or as one Finlay expert has suggested to us, perhaps to fellow poet Pierre Garnier, with whom he was in contact around this time. Published by Wild Hawthorn Press, Edinburgh, in 1964.
£800
50. CHOPIN, Henri. 29 Novembre 74. Portraits de 9.
A pristine copy of this amazing work of poetry by Henri Chopin, one of major figures in the avant-garde of concrete poetry. The book comprises a series of fine examples of the artist’s so-called ‘Typewriter Poems’, as much visual as poetic works, and this particular grouping focuses on the entry of three new countries including the UK to the European Common Market (making a total of 9 countries) in 1974. Published by the important concrete poetry publisher Guy Schraenen in an edition of 480 of which this this 339. Signed and numbered by the artist. £225
51. GERZ, Jochen. Play-Texts 1.
A hilarious item that takes the deconstruction of poetic form to its natural conclusion: a plastic bag filled with loose letters, which jumble about as a kind of sculpture-poem by German poet Jochen Gerz. Near Fine, the bag a little bit clouded, but overall an excellent example.
£250
52. TODD, Glenn and HOYEM, Andrew. Shaped Poetry.
This beautifully-produced folio of 30 broadside prints, each its own experiment with font, paper and form, includes works from the ancient world through to the present, Theocritus to Ian Hamilton Finlay by way of Byzantium, Lewis Carroll, Mallarmé and Apollinaire, in a wonderful example of publisher’s art by the great Arion Press. One of an edition of 300, produced in 1981 and lacking the plexiglass display frame, otherwise very close to Fine, the contents excellent and complete though the box is a little sunned and rubbed around the edge.
£1,800
53. YOUNG, La Monte. 1961.
American avant-garde composer La Monte Young, famous for his experimental and minimalist works as well as his ties to the Fluxus movement in New York, produced this book-as-work-of-art as an extension of his Composition No. 10 1960 ('Draw a Straight Line and Follow it'). Beginning on January 1st and repeating roughly every 13 days through December 31, the instruction continues through this tiny, exquisite gem of a publication (it measures just 9 x 9cm). 1st edition produced by Fluxus in 1963 signed, inscribed and dated by the artist (‘to Johann’), in Fine condition.
£1,950
54. CAGE, John. Notations.
First edition (hardcover) of this experimental work published in 1969 by Something Else Press. Featuring poetry and musical scores by Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, the Beatles and other collaborators, and arranged according to the chance principles of I-Ching. Near Fine, with just slight toning at the board edges.
£620
55. MACLISE, Angus. The Subliminal Report.
This rare work of poetry by Angus Maclise (percussionist, poet, occultist and the original drummer for the Velvet Underground), with its cover image and internal photographs by Ira Cohen, was published in 1975 by the legendary press Bardo Matrix in Nepal. Printed in Kathmandu on delicate handmade paper of Bhutanese silk. One of just 500 copies. 1st edition, in Fine Condition. £510
56. COHEN, Ira. 7 Marvels.
From the same series of exquisite publications produced by Bardo Matrix in Kathmandu in 1975, here on handmade silk paper, and likewise one of just 500 copies. The unbound pages include poems and woodblock prints, cut by Tibetan craftsmen after Marvel Comix. Colophon illustrated by John Chick.
£650
57. KITASONO, Katue. Plastic Poems.
At one time the most well-known and admired Japanese artist-poet in Europe and America (according to LACMA, which presented an exhibition of his work in 2013), though regrettably today neglected, this beautifully-produced catalogue documents the socalled ‘plastic poems’ of Katue Kitasono, Dada-inflected arrangements of objects photographed head-on as though they are haikus, an amazing experimental body of work. Fine hardback in slipcase, with original paper wrappers which are a little rumpled at the edges, otherwise Fine throughout. The book includes an English-language insert with a text on the works by professor John Solt, the leading scholar on the artist.
£1,000
58. SMITH, Patti. Early Work, 1970 - 79
This is an uncorrected publisher’s proof of the collected early poetry and prose of Patti Smith published in 1994 by WW Norton and Co., New York. It is signed by Smith on the cover and is in Fine condition, with no scribble inside apart from two book tour dates which have been crossed out.
£600
59. HELL, Richard. Weather.
Legendary punk musician and writer Richard Hell’s 12-poem series of variations on a lyrical text that begins ‘The Weather was still exciting.’. A beautiful publication produced by CUZ editions in 1998, with the cover design by Christopher Wool. This is a signed first edition, in Fine condition. £500
60. CHILDISH, Billy. The Deathly Flight of Angels.
Childish’s work as a painter has nowadays somewhat eclipsed his prolific output as a poet, which is a shame because his writing is wonderful. This is a Fine first edition of a collection of his verse, illustrated with powerful, expressive woodcuts by Bill Hamper. Published by Hangman in 1990. Signed and inscribed by the author.
£150
61. BUKOWSKI, Charles. Love is a Dog from Hell.
A classic from the vast canon of this prolific writer and poet, the so-called Dirty Old Man of American letters, Love is a Dog from Hell is a collection of Bukowski’s poetic work in the early 1970s and remains one of his most treasured publications, including that famous line ‘there is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock’. This is a Fine copy of the first edition (softcover), published in 1977 by Black Sparrow Press. £150
62. BUKOWSKI, Charles. You Kissed Lilly.
A single prose poem about a marital mishap (putting it lightly), beautifully printed and bound by Black Sparrow Press in a limited run of 200 and including a hilariously mundane and violent series of accompanying illustrations by the poet. This is the first edition (there was also a ‘deluxe’ version) and is almost Fine, with just some sunning to the dust jacket and otherwise pristine. £650
63
. SINCLAIR, Iain. Lud Heat.
An early work by Iain Sinclair, one of the most advanced writers of his generation, and an interesting example of his particular version of psychogeography here applied in (mostly) poetic form, to his great subject: London. Originally appearing in 1975, this third edition, produced by Goldmark in 1987 in a total run of 250, is one of the scarce 25 copies that were signed by the author and embellished with additional holographic material, in this case a five-line poem written in the front end-paper. Signed, dated and numbered 18/25 in the author’s hand. A Fine copy.
£600
64. CROZIER, Andrew. All Where Each Is.
Both a respected poet and important poetry publisher (he ran the The English Intelligencer and the Ferry Press, both critical contributors to the so-called English poetry revival), this is a Fine copy of Crozier’s most complete collection, published in 1985 by Allardyce. Crozier was also the long-time publisher of J. H. Prynne.
£75
65. PRYNNE, J. H. Poems.
At times so hermetic that this brilliant poet has remained underloved by many major publishers for much of his prolific career, he is truly a poet’s poet, one who has had fans since his first works in the 1960s and one who has now begun receiving some due recognition. The first line of this collection of his vast output of the 1960s and 70s has often been cited as the reason for critical disdain: ‘The whole thing it is, the difficult.’ Indeed, Prynne’s language is ‘expensive of attention’, but it has also arguably expanded the possibilities of poetry more than any other recent English poet. Published in 1982 by Agneau 2, an excellent copy.
£100
66. WALCOTT, Derek. The Prodigal.
I find Derek Walcott to represent everything good that poetry can be today, no longer much interested in a war of avant garde and traditional forms but rather mastering both at once, the verse lucid without being facile, almost tactile without being decadent. The Prodigal appeared in 2004/5 in this first UK edition from Faber and Faber, which is in pristine condition and is signed by the poet. Like much of his work, it follows an Odyssey-like path across continents, the Old World and the New.
£80
67. WALCOTT, Derek. White Egrets.
This feels a good book to end with because it is about the end without actually being the end, the poet wondering if it will be his last work, which it wasn’t, two further works appearing in the years after. This is a pristine first edition, published by Faber in 2011, and won Walcott the T. S. Eliot prize. Its final lines are most convenient here: ‘a cloud slowly covers the page and it goes/ white again and the book comes to a close.’
£100
