Search Results: Verse from Sumner & Stillman

1873. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1873. 6 pp undated ads. Original green cloth stamped in black and gilt, beveled. First Edition (English -- this and the American edition came out simultaneously on September 6, 1873). Quoting from William Dean Howells's review in the November 1873 Atlantic Magazine, In Aftermath, we have somehow a better sense than before of our poet's genius. The perfect serenity of his mental atmosphere widens those clear horizons along which lurks a melancholy light, and lets us perceive how great his range has been and in what an ample spirit he has touched his many themes... This is from Blanck's first "state (printing?)," with "Little cared for his Babes,,," on page 64. It is a bright copy, fine except for very slight wear at the tips; there is an "Oct. 1873" ownership signature. Blanck 12164.

1909. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. Original very dark grey-green ribbed cloth decorated in gilt. First and only Edition, first printing (the only other printing was 250 copies printed three months later for Macmillan's London edition). This was Edith Wharton's second volume of verse, preceded only by her rare first book, the anonymous 1878 volume VERSES (of which only a dozen copies are known to survive). Although Wharton had written many of these poems years earlier, this burst of poetic inspiration was the result of her 1907-1908 adulterous affair with the notorious bisexual journalist Morton Fullerton (introduced to her by Henry James); she (like other victims) wrote him numerous love-letters which he claimed to be destroying, only to have him sell them when he later needed money. This is a bright copy, fine except for light rubbing at the spine ends, and minor foxing of the endpapers. Uncommon. Garrison A17.I.a.

1859. New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1859. Original blind-stamped brown cloth. First Edition of this very early Aldrich volume, his fourth -- after THE BELLS (1855), DAISY'S NECKLACE (1857) and THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE (1858). The title verse is "the poem of a little life that was but three Aprils long." This copy is in chocolate brown "A" cloth (one of three cloths used, without precedence); it has no ads (some but not all copies have either 5 pp or 10 pp). This is a remarkably fine, bright copy, virtually as new. Blanck 253.

1892. San Francisco | New York: Western Authors Publishing Company, 1892. Original blind-stamped light grey cloth, beveled. First Edition of Bierce's first volume of verse, published the year after his most famous book, TALES OF SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. There are about 150 short poems (which he terms "beetles"), mostly gleaned from appearances in newspapers. Bierce had seen action, including at Shiloh, in an Indiana Infantry Regiment; his anti-war sentiments, and fixation with death, are reflected in his writings. In our experience this is a tough book to find in decent condition, due to its light grey cloth and frugal use of gilt. This is a nearly fine copy, however, with scarcely any wear and with only the slightest hint of soil (near the covers' fore-edge). Blanck 1111.

1885. [a handsome copy] London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1885. Original blue cloth, beveled. First Edition, first printing (which consisted of 1000 copies). Stevenson began writing these verses as early as 1881: supposedly after perusing through Kate Greenaway's BIRTHDAY BOOK FOR CHILDREN, he observed "These are rather nice rhymes, and I don't think they will be difficult to do," and then proceeded to try his hand at them. It is hard to believe that the author of DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE and THE BODY-SNATCHER also wrote these sprightly juvenile rhymes, voiced as if by a child. The book is dedicated to Alison Cunningham, "Cummy," his childhood nurse-maid. The spine lettering of this copy is the less-encountered variant (no known precedence): the apostrophe is NOT shaped like the digit "7", and the word "OF" is in a smaller font than the word "A". The top edge of the pages is gilded, with the other edges uncut, which is the usual primary state. Inside, this copy does NOT have the ink-stamp "Printed in… Read More

1812. Illustrated by Engravings. Edinburgh: Printed by John Brown, for Bell & Bradfute, Edinburgh, W. Anderson, Stirling, and Thomas Hamilton, London, 1812. Original drab paper-covered boards with plain green cloth spine. First Edition of the first "critique" of the poems of Robert Burns, which though anonymous was written by George Gleig (1753-1840), Bishop of Brechin and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. This was the first, and for a long time the only book exclusively concerned with Burns's poetry. Its appearance twelve years after the first collected edition, and fifteen years after the first biography, points to an order of priority in Burns studies which has seldom changed: there has been a time lag between interest in the man and editorial scholarship, and a longer one between editing and criticism. The author of the CRITIQUE pointed out that his aim was to satisfy a demand for guidance on the part "of the country gentleman, the farmer, the artisan, and all those who have moved in the… Read More

1890. New York: United States Book Company. Successors to John W. Lovell Company, n.d. [1890]. Original maroon cloth, on beveled boards. First (though pirated) Edition of both the "Barrack-Room Ballads" and the "Other Verses" (not published in England until 1892); first American edition of "Departmental Ditties." The "Barrack-Room Ballads" include some of Kipling's best-loved verse, such as "Gunga Din," "Danny Deever," "Tommy," "Mandalay" and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy." This copy is in the first binding state, with "Lovell" at the foot of the spine (even though Lovell had been "succeeded" by United States Book Company). The volume is in very good-plus, perhaps near-fine condition (spine gilt less than bright, very light wear at the foot of the spine); the spine is not faded, which is atypical for maroon cloth. Richards A48; Stewart 79.

1871. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1871. Original bright green cloth decorated in gilt, beveled. First Edition. This is actually what Longfellow considered to be Part I of a trilogy, the other two parts of which had already been published. It had to do with Cristendom through the ages -- the Apostolic, Middle and Modern Ages. THE GOLDEN LEGEND (1851) constituted Part II, and THE NEW ENGLAND TRAGEDIES (1868) Part III. This copy is green (one of several colors used); in addition to regular copies such as this, a large paper issue was printed. Though a rather common book, this is an unusually fine, bright copy. Blanck 12157.

1877. Presented by Enoch Morgan's Sons Co., New York. Five Points NY: Donaldson Brothers, n.d. [1877]. Original light blue wrappers decorated in black and sepia. First Edition of this illustrated poem -- quite possibly an earlier state than either of those documented by Blanck. Written as hack-work at a time when Harte badly needed cash, this is his parody of Longfellow's 1842 poem "Excelsior" -- with numerous minor changes, but with the word "Sapolio" replacing Longfellow's word "Excelsior". This was issued as an advertisement for Sapolio Soap -- said to be the first time a known author used his talents for the sake of an advertisement. The poem is a tale of a youth who comes to town with a "Sapolio" stencil and proceeds to ink the word onto everyone's fences, all the rocks, and even on the nearby mountain peak -- curiously to the dismay of nobody. Copies were issued both in mauve cloth and in these light blue wrappers. Blanck identifies two printings, but this copy varies from both -- and just… Read More

1833. Translated into English prose, with remarks on former translations, and notes, by The Translator of Savigny's "Of the Vocation..." [Abraham Hayward]. London: --MDCCCXXXIII. First Edition in the English language of Goethe's final version of the legend of Faust -- this being a copy of the private issue printed for the translator (considered to have preceded the trade issue). The legend of Faust, and his pact with Mephistopheles whereby he pledged his soul for the instant gratification of unbound earthly knowledge, is known as far back as a German chap-book in 1587. Christopher Marlowe wrote his dramatic version around 1604, and a 1725 version of the chap-book is known to have been read by young Goethe (1749-1832). In Goethe's reworking of the story (as a hybrid between a play and an epic poem), which in all took him about sixty years to write, Faust becomes a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for "more than earthly meat and drink" in his life; nonetheless, his first use of his new power is to… Read More

1893. London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1893. 2 pp undated ads. Original dark blue cloth. First Edition, which according to the limitation page consisted of only 300 copies (though the book does not seem as scarce as that). The title comes from Davidson's membership in the Rhymers' Club (Yeats et al.), which met regularly at the Cheshire Cheese public-house on Fleet Street. This copy, complete with the errata slip, is in fine condition except for almost-imperceptible cover soil. Nelson 50; Krshnmrti 174.

1852. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1852. Original blind-stamped brown cloth. First Edition, first printing. This is a book-length narrative poem based on a Middle High German romance by Hartmann von Aue [c.1170 - c.1210]; Longfellow's version was soon adapted as a cantata by Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan). The first printing was actually published on Nov 29, 1851, and partway through the printing of the 3600 copies, it was decided to change the title page date from 1851 to 1852 (as here) -- neither version was published (released to the public) before the other; in fact the copyright deposit copy is one of the 1852-dated copies. This copy does have all twelve of the first-printing issue points enumerated by Blanck (the second and third printings were also dated 1852, but have these textual changes). This copy is in the standard brown binding (others were bound in "gift" bindings that had gilt decoration); there is no preliminary ad catalogue, present in some copies only. It is in… Read More

1876. With Nine Illustrations by Henry Holiday. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. 1 page undated ads. Original deep red cloth pictorially decorated in black, all page edges gilt. First Edition, special dark-red binding, which consisted of 100 copies. This is a poetical nonsense tale, both funny and subtle, that "describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature" [WM&G]. The crew consists of a Bellman, a Bonnet-Maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Butcher, a Baker, a Beaver and (the only one not illustrated) "a Boots." In his dedicatory verse to Gertrude Chataway, Carroll hid the child's name twice. Standard copies were issued in buff-colored cloth (with the same elaborate pictorial decoration, but in black). According to WM&G, "It is doubtful whether any variant coloured bindings were for sale, other than buff or red; the other colours seem to have been bound specially for Dodgson, who wrote to Macmillan on 21 Mar. 1876… Read More

1805. [inscribed by Scott] The Second Edition. London: printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A. Constable and Co., Edinburgh, by James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1805. Original blue paper-covered boards, with later (but period-style) white cloth or vellum, with printed spine label. "The Second Edition," which consisted of 1500 copies, issued later in the same year as the 750-copy first printing. This narrative poem in six cantos, with the action taking place in mid-16th-Century Scotland, is quite "early Scott": in the exhaustive Todd & Bowden bibliography, this is the 14th of 259 titles, and it would be 1814 before Scott would venture into prose fiction -- first with WAVERLEY, followed by such titles as ROB ROY, IVANHOE, KENILWORTH and QUENTIN DURWARD. Remarkably, this copy is still in the original blue paper-covered boards, the endpapers are original, and the leaves are still uncut; however the spine and label -- though period-style -- are later (but not at all recent). Condition is… Read More

1839. London: Charles Tilt, 1839. 8 pp undated ads. Original dark green cloth wrappers pictorially decorated in gilt. First Edition, first issue, of this unusual collaboration between Thackeray, Dickens and Cruikshank. The volume consists of 31 quatrains of amusing verse, illustrated with Cruikshank's eleven full-page etchings (as well as the front cover design). According to Van Duzer, "It is now generally conceded that Thackeray wrote the text and that the notes and preface were by Dickens." For Thackeray it was quite early work: it was only the preceding year that was published THE YELLOWPLUSH CORRESPONDENCE, the "first publication in book form of any of Thackeray's writings" [Parrish]. As for Dickens, this fell just after OLIVER TWIST, at about the time NICHOLAS NICKLEBY was being serialized. Cruikshank, the only one of the three identified in the book, was the veteran of the group. This copy is of the first issue, with "wine" in stanza v; in the second issue this was changed to "vine" (even… Read More

1899. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1899. Original olive-green cloth decorated and embossed in gilt. First Edition of this early title by this African-American poet whose parents, before they met, had both been Kentucky slaves; his father escaped to Canada, and wound up fighting in the Civil War for the Massachusetts 55th Regiment; his mother escaped to Ohio. Dunbar was born and raised in Dayton, where at Central High School (Class of 1890) he would be the only black student, the president of the literary society, and the editor of the school newspaper; one of his classmates was Orville Wright who, shortly after his mother died, would drop out of school before graduating -- to devote time to his fledgling printing business, and then (1892) to his and brother Wilbur's new bicycle business. Dunbar's first book (published as a favor by Orville's father) came out in 1893; by the time this book came out, he was already ill with the tuberculosis that would claim his life seven years later, at age 33.… Read More

1917. London: Macmillan and Co., 1917. 4 pp undated ads. Original olive-green cloth with monogram device in gilt. First Edition of Hardy's largest collection of verse, consisting of 159 poems. The recurrent theme, excluding the war poems, is the death of Hardy's first wife and the re-creation of their old romance. Few of these poems had appeared in periodicals, since "very rarely if ever did Hardy permit periodical publication of poems of so intimate a nature" [Purdy]. This is a near-fine copy, with scarcely any wear but with a little lifting of the front cover cloth; most of the leaves remain unopened, which is a sadly-common feature of many Hardy volumes of verse. Purdy pp 193-208. Housed in a morocco-backed slipcase (with inner stiff-cloth wraparound) -- which today would cost far more to create, than this book's value.

1868. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1868. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in gilt. First American Edition (published on the same day as the London edition and the Leipzig edition) of these two plays in verse form -- "John Endicott" sited in 1665 Boston and "Giles Corey" in 1692 Salem. This copy is in terra-cotta cloth (one of three colors that were used in addition to several leather bindings), and has the TF pendant device in the supposed second state (with a hollow pendant). As Blanck points out, there were four identical printings dated 1868 (the first almost double the size of the other three combined), though there are at least two instances of type-batter (which this copy does exhibit) that may indicate a copy from late in the first printing or from one of the other three. This is a fine, bright copy. Blanck 12150.

1923. London: Constable & Co., (1923). Original brown paper boards with buff cloth spine and red leather spine label, with dust jacket. First Edition of Katherine Mansfield's verse, collected by her husband John Middleton Murry and published just ten months after her death by tuberculosis at age 34. The verse is divided into "Poems: 1909-1910," "Poems: 1911-1913," "Poems at the Villa Pauline: 1916," "Poems: 1917-1919" and "Child Verses: 1907." Included is Murry's "Introductory Note," explaining how she wrote her poetry. Kirkpatrick gives the height of this volume as 9-3/16", but this copy is definitely an exact 9-1/2" tall. It is in fine condition. The dust jacket is very good-plus, with very minor edge-wear and some foxing. Kirkpatrick A7a.

1801. Not Contained in Any Edition of His Works Hitherto Published. Glasgow, Printed by Chapman & Lang, for Thomas Stewart, Bookseller and Stationer, 1801. Early but not original green morocco-grain cloth. First Edition of this early collection of 29 poems "not... hitherto published," spread over 94 pages. The word "ascribed" is key, because, in the preliminary three-page "Advertisement," it is noted that the poems are "presented to the Public without any _positive_ affirmation of their authenticity on the part of the Publisher." Egerer states that ten of the poems are actually first appearances of Burns poems -- those beginning on pages 46, 53, 59, 60, 62, 68, 74, 81, 82 and 91. There were two issues of this book, one advertised in the Glasgow Courier on 2 January 1801 and the other on 3 May 1801. This copy appears to be mixed-issue. On the one hand, the title page includes the date 1801 (and a short scrolled rule immediately above it), whereas some copies have neither. On the other hand, leaf G3… Read More