BELFRY OF BRUGES AND OTHER POEMS

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. THE BELFRY OF BRUGES AND OTHER POEMS. Cambridge: John Owen, 1846. First edition, with wrappers dated 1845 as always. Original white wrappers lithographed in gilt, uncut. Spine rather chipped, lower blank edge (1/2 to 1 inch) of rear wrapper torn away, some chipping at corners; still a presentable copy in the original gilt wrappers, uncut. The publisher did not issue the book in cloth. Longfellow signed a contract in November, 1845, authorizing Owen to publish 1,000 copies. The book appeared just before Christmas. The custom was to predate books appearing at the end of the year, but Owen prepared the wrappers for this volume in advance with the `wrong' date. Because of the expense of reprinting gold lithographed wrappers, he let the mistake pass. No copies of the first edition are known in wrappers dated 1846, and even a second edition has been noted in 1845 wrappers. Contains the first printings of two of Longfellow's most famous poems: "I shot an arrow into the air" and, "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small." Although the phrasing of the second poem (`Retribution') is Longfellow's own, the thought was borrowed from a sixteenth century German poet (not John Milton or George Herbert as commonly supposed). Wilson THIRTEEN AUTHORS I:222. BAL 12083.