Eyelids of Morning [RARE SIGNED & INSCRIBED 1973 1ST EDITION WITH A 2-PAGE DRAWING - FINE COPY] by Beard, Peter - 1973

New York Graphic Society, 1973. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. New York Graphic Society, 1973. Hardcover in pictorial dust jacket. First Edition, Second Printing (stated). 4to. 260 pages. Richly illustrated with photos and drawings by Peter Beard in b/w and colour. SIGNED/INSCRIBED and dated in the year of publication on the half-title page: "To Claudette Dec. 73' / Merry X Mas / and warm regards / and salaams from / a fellow Kenyaphile / all best wishes / and thanks for all / Peter Beard / ...and welcome to Montauk (Box 603) whenever you find the time!". Both the half title and the previous blank page have an elaborate, humorous drawing of a man swimming just off a beach being swallowed whole by an alligator appearing from the depths, with a blue-ink watery splash emanating from the attacker and its victim; just above the beach is the alligator pictured on the half title from which Beard has drawn an elongated red, dragon-like flame and below which he has penned a Biblical quote from Job: 'By his sneesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like The Eyelids of Morning'; and just to the right of this Beard has drawn a small cottage and lighthouse under which he has inscribed and signed the book. BOOK CONDITON: Fine; a solid, tight, clean copy in a Near Fine dust jacket showing some overall fadin, a few tiny closed tears and a small area of loss to upper front margin and upper rear corner at head of spine. While copies of the 1990 Chronicle 2nd edition are relatively common, SIGNED copies of the 1973 1st edition are quite rare indeed. Overall, a highly collectible, SIGNED and EMBELLISHED copy of the 1973 first edition.