Poems of W.B. Yeats by Yeats, W.B.; Vendler, Helen (Editor); Diebenkorn, Richard (Artist) - 1990

San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1990. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Diebenkorn, Richard. No. 271 of 400 numbered copies, quarto size, 204 pp., signed by Richard Diebenkorn. William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was both an Irish poet and ardent nationalist; he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 (the first Irish winner), shortly after Ireland gained independence. His poetry continues to inspire and be read today, and he "is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century" (n.b., quote from the web site of The Poetry Foundation). Helen Vendler says of Yeats in her insightful introduction that he was "one of the most gifted, driven, and complex figures of twentieth-century art and politics".

With six etchings by Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), abstract artist and winner of the National Medal of Arts in 1991; for this volume he "took the Yeatsian theme of an empty coat on a hanger to produce a series of prints transforming the garment from a representational frock-coat into an abstracted suit-bag. The sixth etching is a double map of Ireland, indicative of that divided country" (from web site of Arion Press). Diebenkorn's art can be found in noted institutions and galleries world-wide, with his original works commanding auction prices as high as $13 million (n.b., per Wiki).

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter red goatskin with evergreen cloth boards, gilt lettering on the spine, limitation statement at the front with artist's signature in pencil, title page in red and black, poem titles in red; quarto size (10.5" by 8.25"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-xxv [xxvi-xxxi] [1-2] 3-171 [172] [1 colophon], limited edition of 400 copies, plus 26 NFS, this no. 271, signed by Richard Diebenkorn on the limitation statement at the front of the book. Housed in a slipcase covered on the top, bottom, and spine with matching green cloth, paper spine label with gilt lettering, sides covered in red paper.

___CONDITION: Fine; the leather spine smooth and supple, unrubbed, the colour deep (not sunned) and the gilt lettering bright, the cloth covers clean and unrubbed, the corners perfectly straight without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, as new. Slipcase also fine, strong and sturdy, entirely free of rubbing or any marks; as new.

___CITATION: Arion Press Bibliography, no. 31.

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