Umbra: The Early Poems of Ezra Pound. All that he now wishes to keep in circulation from 'Personae,' 'Exultations,' 'Ripostes,' etc. [Leolyn Louise Everett's copy]

London: Elkin Mathews, 1920. First Printing. Hardcover. Near Fine+. First Trade Edition (one of 1,000 copies), collecting previously published early poems ("All that he now wishes to keep in circulation") and some translations. Crown 8vo (190 x 138mm): 128pp. Publisher's fawn quarter-bound canvas over grey paper-covered boards, upper cover and spine stamped in navy blue, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Wanting the rarely encountered duck-egg blue dust jacket. Ex-libris of Leolyn Louise Everett and contemporary London bookseller's ticket to front paste-down. Spine darkened just a degree or two, end papers toned, first and final leaves very lightly spotted, but a collectible copy with excellent provenance. Gallup A20. A signed limited issue was published the same year. Pound's poetic farewell to London, published before leaving for Paris and turning to writing more or less nothing but cantos for the rest of his poetic career. With translations from Guido Cavalcanti and Arnaut Daniel and poems by T. E. Hulme. The poet Leolyn Louise Everett, whose book this was, was the daughter of Henry A. Everett, the railroad industrialist who introduced the street railway to Cleveland. After returning from Italy in 1914 she met the composer Timothy Mather Spelman (1891-1970) in New York. They married and in 1919 settled in Florence, where they bought the Villa Razzolini in the hills of Arcetri, which became a meeting place for intellectuals, perhaps among them Pound. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).