Thistles and Thorns: Abraham and Sarah at Bethel by Smyth, Paul - 1977

Omaha: Abattoir Editions / University of Nebraska, 1977. Edition limited to 253 copies (this, no. 0); large 8vo, pp. 100; printed in red and black; 13 wood engravings by Moser; fine copy in original natural linen with printed red wrap-around label, original plain dust jacket slightly worn at extremities; all else fine. From the library of Kim Merker. Copy no. zero is likely a review copy or possibly a proof. Hence, without the red paper slip with title and authors' names tipped onto blank facing dedication page.

Omaha: Abattoir Editions, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1977 One of 253 copes printed at the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Fine Arts.. Gray-and-white coarse cloth over boards with printed red paper label. Red paper slip with title and authors' names tipped onto blank facing dedication page. In the original paper dustjacket, slightly worn at joints. Quarto. With engraved title-page vignette and twelve other striking engravings by Barry Moser. Printed from hand-set Bembo type and Moser's original wood blocks in Gutenberg Laid Paper by Timothy Anderson, Harry Duncan, and Randolph Klauzer. A near fine copy. ThIs is a fairly early publication from Barry Moser (b. 1940), who also illustrated another poetry collection by Smyth (1944 – 2006), titled The Cardinal Sins: A Bestiary, published under Moser's Pennyroyal Press imprint in 1980.