Poetry: The Heart of the Matter
In an age when a convincingly Shakespearean sonnet is just a click away, the human feeling at the heart of poetry remains irreplaceable. Bringing together remarkable manuscripts, presentation copies, inscriptions and first editions, our new catalogue celebrates the material magic of poetry, preserving the emotions, creative processes and personal connections that have shaped verse across the centuries.
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AUDEN, W. H. Original signed typescript poem, "Moon Landing", and five others, within an archive of correspondence to Anthony Rossiter.Hinterholz : 1969
A collection of fair-copy typescript poems and signed correspondence from W. H. Auden to his close friend Anthony Rossiter, dating from 1967 to 1969. The highlight is "Moon Landing", presented to Rossiter five days before publication in the New Yorker. Auden inscribes the poem with thanks for a gift and sympathy for Rossiter's depression: "So... Learn More -
KALIDASA. The Mégha Dúta; or, Cloud Messenger: A Poem, in the Sanscrit Language. By Cálidása.Calcutta : 1813
First edition in English, the first translation into a European language, of one of the most influential poems in the Sanskrit canon, by "probably the greatest Indian writer of any epoch" (Edwin Gerow in Ency. Brit.). This copy is attractively preserved in a contemporary morocco, complete with the half-title, errata, and advertisements.
The... Learn More -
QUENEAU, Raymond. Cent mille milliards de poèmes.[Paris] : 1961
First edition, presentation copy, one of 250 hors commerce copies, inscribed "à Maurice Nadeau, amicalement, Queneau" on the half-title. Queneau's celebrated title is variously translated as A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems and One Hundred Million Million Poems.
The book consists of ten sonnets printed on card, each line occupying a... Learn More -
HEANEY, Seamus. Bog Poems.London : 1975
First edition, number 27 of 150 copies signed by the author only. This copy is additionally signed by the illustrator, though uncalled for. Published by Ted and Olwyn Hughes's Rainbow Press, this collection of eight verses represents the first appearance of Heaney's celebrated "bog" poems, preceding their inclusion in North by one... Learn More -
JAPANESE POETRY. A compilation of poems by the 36 Immortals of Poetry.[Edo : late 17th century]
A selection of waka composed by the early masters of the art, copied by Tokugawa Ienobu (1662-1712), the sixth shogun of the Edo period, onto exquisitely hand-decorated paper. The poems encompass themes of love and loneliness, the beauty of the seasons, and the impermanence of life. Five were written by noblewomen and two by Buddhist... Learn More -
TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. "The Brook", autograph fair copy, signed.1881
A fair copy in the poet's hand, signed and dated by him at the end. The autograph passage comprises quatrains four to six of "The Brook", which was collected in Maud, and Other Poems (1855).
The brook near Somersby House remained a constant source of inspiration throughout Tennyson's career. As he wandered beside it, "he often seemed to be... Learn More -
DOWSON, Ernest. "You loved me once", manuscript poem.[c. 1889]
A mournful handwritten poem by Dowson on the loss of his first lover, with an unpublished note on the verso, in which he characteristically despairs at the world, writing, and the pointless nature of every pursuit.
The poem was written around August 1889, after Dowson's first documented relationship ended. As an experiment in courtship,... Learn More -
CORSO, Gregory. Gasoline.San Francisco : 1958
First edition, inscribed by Corso to the English poet Christopher Logue inside the front cover: "For Chris Logue, poet, tense young man I met in Amsterdam - no pot - but farewell on Licthplain was good for memory". Logue's ownership inscription on the title page is dated 1958.
"Licthplain" is almost certainly Corso's phonetic misspelling of... Learn More -
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle.) Sea Garden; Hymen; Heliodora and Other Poems.London : 1916-21-24
First editions, Ludmila Bloch Savitzky's copies. Hymen and Heliodora are presentation copies, each inscribed by H.D. to Savitzky "with appreciation"; the inscription in Heliodora is dated 22 May 1924 (perhaps the date of their meeting). Savitzky's copy of Sea Garden is not inscribed, but she has annotated it throughout with translations into... Learn More -
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. Sour Grapes.Boston : 1921
First edition, inscribed by the author to a fellow poet: "Mitchell Dawson, from William Carlos Williams, Dec. 20, 1921", 11 days after publication. Dawson was a lawyer and friend of Williams, with whom he corresponded about setting up a new literary journal after the decline of Others (1915-19).
Unfortunately, the proposed magazine never... Learn More -
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. Collected Poems, 1921-1931.New York : 1934
First edition, signed by the poet on the front free endpaper. This collection of Williams's early poems includes "The Red Wheelbarrow" from Spring and All (1923) and several previously unpublished verses, among them "This Is Just to Say".
In his introduction, Wallace Stevens writes: "In respect to manner he is a virtuoso. He writes of... Learn More -
GINSBERG, Allen. Mostly Sitting Haiku.New Jersey : 1978
First edition, inscribed by the author on the title page: "Printed in Paterson N.J., For Christopher Logue, 1979 March 20, Boulder Colorado, lunch with Tom Clark & Ed Dorn, Jennifer Dorn, Peter Orlovsky & Allen Ginsberg." Ginsberg has annotated the contents, contributing additional lines to two haiku. Logue has signed below the inscription and... Learn More -
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. "Epitaph on an Infant", autograph manuscript poem.[Highgate : 1832]
A manuscript fair copy, in Coleridge's hand, of the complete quatrain, followed by his brief reflection on the juvenile piece. Another hand notes on the verso how the manuscript was procured as a love-gift for the daughter of an eminent Irish poet.
In his commentary, Coleridge describes the line "with friendly care" as a "botch" but excuses... Learn More -
ASHBERY, John. Turandot and Other Poems.New York : 1953
First edition, number 55 of 300 copies of the poet's first book, inscribed to Harold Bloom, the critic who helped secure Ashbery's place in the American poetic canon: "for Harold Bloom, with love, John Ashbery, April 12 1973".
Bloom championed Ashbery in the early 1970s as a central figure in contemporary poetry. Reviewing The Double Dream... Learn More -
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle.) What Do I Love?London : [1950]
First edition, inscribed by the poet on the first blank, "Dorothy Richardson, from H.D.", one of around 50 copies. The printing was arranged by Bryher and Robert Herring, and H.D. distributed copies as her Christmas card in 1950. Around half are now in libraries; copies are rare in commerce.
The two women shared a close friendship. H.D.... Learn More -
ELIOT, T. S. Four Quartets.London : 1944
First British collected edition, inscribed by the poet to Marianne Moore's niece on the front free endpaper: "Inscribed for Miss Sarah Eustis Moore by T. S. Eliot, 12.xi.48". Eliot has also struck through the word "hermit" on page 25, initialling his correction in the margin, "horseshoe. T.S.E."
Eliot admired Marianne Moore ever since they... Learn More -
GIBRAN, Kahlil. The Forerunner, His Parables and Poems.New York : 1920
First edition, in the scarce dust jacket, of Gibran's second book of prose poems in English. The Forerunner was published between The Madman (1918) and The Prophet (1923), three works which reveal Gibran's spiritual development from awakening and anticipation, to self-transcendence, to universal wisdom. This playful collection particularly reveals... Learn More -
OLIVER, Mary. Dream Work.New York : 1986
First edition, hardback issue, presentation copy, inscribed by the poet to her friend June Jensen and her brother: "For June and Alan, with love, Mary and [Molly], Provincetown, 1986". Oliver's partner Molly Malone Cook has signed her own name in the inscription. Loosely inserted is a birthday card inscribed by Oliver: "For June, Happy Birthday... Learn More -
OLIVER, Mary. New and Selected Poems.Boston : 1992 & 2005
First editions, hardback issues, presentation copies, each inscribed by the author to her friend June Jensen. The first volume is inscribed: "For June, with our love, Mary & Molly. Provincetown, August, 1992". The second, published 13 years later, is inscribed to Jensen in memory of Oliver's partner, the photographer Molly Malone Cook, who had... Learn More -
ELIOT, T. S. East Coker.[London] : 1940
Presentation copy of the rare first separate appearance of "East Coker", inscribed by the poet at the head of the first page, "Michael Roberts, from T.S.E.".
"East Coker", the second poem in Eliot's Four Quartets (1943), first appeared in the Easter number of the New English Weekly. The present separate issue, printed in slightly larger... Learn More
