Clearwater Books

EDWARD THOMAS. The Woodland Life. William Blackwood and Sons, London and Edinburgh 1897. First Edition, second state. 234pp + ii publisher's advertisements. Decorated olive-green buckram lettered in gilt at spine and in dark green at upper board. With a captioned tissue-protected frontispiece. A hint of darkening to backstrip and board edges and some light spotting to several preliminary leaves. Embossed publisher’s compliments stamp to corner of title and dedication leaves. Former owner details to a blank preliminary, one inked (dated 1905) and the other in pencil. A super copy of Thomas' uncommon first book, published when he was nineteen years old and comprising eleven essays and a diary covering the period April 1895-April 1896. See Eckert 185-187. £350

EDWARD THOMAS. The Woodland Life. William Blackwood and Sons, London and Edinburgh 1897. First edition, an un-recorded variant of Thomas’ most uncommon first book, which is not noted in Eckert, but generally corresponds to the second issue but with cream endpapers, instead of the typical black. 234pp + ii publisher's advertisements. Decorated olive-green buckram lettered in gilt at spine and in black at upper board. Publisher’s imprint (“Edinburgh”) in gilt to base of spine. Frontispiece. A little spotting and browning to one blank preliminary and some very light occasional spotting throughout. An unusually crisp copy of Thomas' uncommon first book. £350

EDWARD THOMAS. Horae Solitariae. Duckworth, London 1902. The first edition of his second book. Small 8vo. Missing front fly-leaf. Inscription of former owner to half-title verso, with some ink under-linings to text. Spine a little handled. A good, sound, accessible copy of an uncommon book. £60

EDWARD THOMAS. Oxford. Painted by John Fulleylove and described by Edward Thomas. A. & C. Black, London 1903. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 300 numbered copies signed by the publishers (this being #189). 4to. 265pp. Sixty plates by John Fulleylove, each with a printed tissue guard. Some pages unopened. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Decorated gilt buckram covers. Covers a little marked in places and with a little foxing to preliminary leaves. A little worn at tail of spine and cloth quite nicked at head of spine. No dust wrapper, as issued. Attractive former owner bookplate to front pastedown. A good copy of a handsome production. £100

EDWARD THOMAS. Oxford. Painted by John  Fulleylove and described by Edward Thomas. A. & C. Black, London 1922. The third edition, originally published in 1903 and here issued in a uniform edition with Wales. 8vo. 267pp. Blue cloth lettered in gold at spine and in black at upper board with a repeated blind-stamped decorative shield design. With a colour frontispiece and thirty-one captioned colour plates. Cloth a little chafed at extremities, and edges and endpapers spotted. Former owner gift inscription neatly inked to front endpaper and a tiny dealer plate to base of front pastedown. A nice crisp copy, lacking the dust wrapper. £10

EDWARD THOMAS. Richard Jefferies. His Life and Work. Hutchinson, London [1911]. The second edition, a variant issue not noted by Eckert, yet almost certainly preceding it, issued without a half-title or advertisement leaf showing uniform volumes, and with a different price. 8vo. 352pp. Plum-coloured cloth lettered and ruled in gold at spine and with the publisher’s device gilt-stamped to upper board. Top edge gilt. Portrait frontispiece. Flyleaves browned, with some light spotting to preliminary leaves and a touch of age toning to paperstock. A nice crisp copy in soiled, stained, chipped, torn and dusty dust wrapper. The first edition of Thomas’ study of Jefferies was published in 1909 and included, along with the frontispiece, thirteen illustrations and a folding map. These were not included in the second edition although the dust wrapper still states “with illustrations and a map”. The two editions were produced in different sizes so the wrapper cannot be left over from the 1909 stock and therefore the presence of this text must simply be an oversight. Eckert states that this second edition was issued on 6 October 1911 as part of “Hutchinson’s 1/- Net library” and yet the faded price on the spine panel of this issue states “2/- Net”, suggesting it was issued prior to Eckert’s state (and also explains the absence of the advertising leaf). £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Richard Jefferies. His Life and Work. Hutchinson, London [1911]. The second edition, a variant issue as above, Backstrip very lightly faded and frontis and rear endpaper spotted. Quite a nice, bright copy. No dust wrapper. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. Rest and Unrest. Essays. Duckworth, London 1910. First edition (Eckert’s first issue). Small 8vo. 191pp. Vertical rubbed green cloth lettered in gold at spine and upper board with a blind border to upper board and publisher’s motif blind-stamped to rear board. Cloth very lightly marked in places with some toning to the backstrip. Head of spine rubbed and with two tiny nicks. Tips of several corners just a little rubbed. Endpapers lightly browned but thereafter a lovely crisp copy internally. Contemporary gift inscription neatly inked to front endpaper alongside a short verse. Nine narrative essays, seven making their first appearance in print. Eckert page 204. £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Rose Acre Papers, including essays from Horae Solitariae.  Duckworth, London 1910. First edition, variant binding lettered in black rather than gilt and without the gilt top edge and decorated endpapers. 186pp + iv publisher's advertisements. Small 8vo. A really lovely, bright copy, complete with the original dust wrapper (featuring a photographic portrait of Thomas), the jacket dust-marked, chipped with a little loss to foot of front panel and a little rubbed. Scarce thus. £225

EDWARD THOMAS. The Tenth Muse. Martin Secker, London [1917]. Third issue with a new prefatory eight page memoir of Thomas by John Freeman. 141pp + ii publisher’s advertisements. Blue smooth-weave cloth with tanned paper spine label. Endpapers lightly browned and with some light spotting to the first half-dozen leaves. A very nice, bright copy of a book which originally formed chapter eight of Thomas' 1910 book Feminine Influence on the Poets and consists of a series of brief studies  of the love poems of English poets from Chaucer to Shelley, here slightly revised. £40

EDWARD THOMAS. The Tenth Muse. Martin Secker, London [1917?]. Probably the second state of the third issue, without the memoir by John Freeman (Eckert suggests that this second state was probably published prior to the first, and upon the death of Thomas the memoir added). 8vo. 141pp + [ii] publisher’s catalogue. Blue cloth with dulled gilt lettering to spine and a treble blind border to upper board. Top edge dust marked with a short tear to the cloth at rear gutter. Edges and margins of several preliminary leaves lightly spotted. A dusty copy, but really quite crisp internally. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. George Borrow. The Man and his Books. Chapman & Hall, London 1912. First edition. Large 8vo. 333pp + viii index. Purple cloth with defective gilt lettering and rule to spine and a handsome blind-stamped decoration to upper board. With a tissue-protected portrait frontispiece, twenty-three captioned plates and an eleven-page bibliography. Lacking the tipped-in Corrigendum and errata slip. A little wear and a short tear to the head of the backstrip, which is also quite faded. Fox spotting to preliminary leaves, but thereafter mostly confined to margins. Former owner name and date (1918) inked to front endpaper. Quite a bright copy housed in the original dust wrapper, internally reinforced, tanned, chipped at spine ends and with several lengthy creases suggestive of it having at some point been stored within the text. Alas, not the prettiest copy, yet a most uncommon early Edward Thomas dust wrapper. Eckert pp. 223. £200

EDWARD THOMAS. The Country. B.T.Batsford, London [1913]. First edition. Small 8vo. 59pp. Spine faded and just the faintest hint of foxing to preliminary leaves, otherwise a very clean and bright copy. No dust wrapper. £40

EDWARD THOMAS. The Icknield Way. With illustrations by A.L.Collins. Constable, London 1916. Second edition (issued three years after the first). 8vo. 320pp. Paper-covered cloth with a small map of the Way to upper board. With a colour frontispiece, fifty-one line drawings presented either as plates or in the text, and a two-colour four-panel fold-out map at rear. Boards a little rubbed and worn at one or two edges and tips of two corners bumped. Former owner bookplate to front pastedown. With a presentation inscription from Thomas’ grandson to the front endpaper: “On the occasion of the memorial service for ‘his daughter the younger’, Myfanwy – 25 September 2005. Edward Thomas. Grandson.” A very good copy of a super association copy. £250

EDWARD THOMAS. The Flowers I Love. An anthology of flower poems selected by Edward Thomas and accompanied by a series of twenty-four drawings in colour by Katherine Cameron. T.C. & E.C. Jack, London and Edinburgh [1916]. First edition. 4to. 81pp. Linen-backed paper covered boards, lettered and decorated (by Cameron) in gold at spine and upper board. With a title page decoration, a tipped-in colour frontispiece and twenty-three delightful tipped-in colour plates. A number of pages uncut. Tips of corners gently bumped. A small area of discolouration to head and base of spine. Endpapers browned. A very good copy in lightly worn and rubbed dust wrapper with four or five tiny slivers of loss and one short closed tear. Chipped and tanned publisher’s price label to spine panel and remnants of another, carefully removed, to front panel. A delightful production, most uncommon in the dust wrapper. £175

EDWARD THOMAS contributes ten poems to Twelve Poets. A Miscellany of New Verse. Selwyn & Blount, London 1918. First edition. 127pp + viii publisher’s catalogue dated autumn 1918. Paper-covered boards, tanned and dust marked with a two-inch shallow score to upper board. Tips of corners lightly chafed, and with a little light wear and chipping to head of spine. Crease to front endpaper and half-title and fairly poor quality paperstock quite tanned. Faint ghost of partially erased former owner pencilled name to front endpaper and another to front pastedown Quite a good copy. (Also includes Vivian Locke Ellis' poem April, 1917 To Edward Thomas; Killed in action on Easter Monday.) £60

EDWARD THOMAS contributes his short story Crowbit to an issue of the periodical The English Review. Edited by Austin Harrison. Volume X, No. 4 (i.e. number 40), March 1912. Tall 8vo. Card wrappers, chipped and spine ends and lightly soiled and creased. A nice bright copy.  The first appearance in print of this six-page Thomas story, which was subsequently collected under the title Helen in his posthumous volume Cloud Castle and other Papers (1922). £35

EDWARD THOMAS. A two-page Note on Edward Thomas and ‘Eluned’ by Stanley Snaith appears alongside the poem itself and a full-page photograph of Thomas and Gordon Bottomley (arguably the final photograph of Thomas, taken six-months before his death), in an issue of the periodical Listen. A Review of Poetry and Criticism. Vol. 3, No. 1. Winter 1958. 8vo. Stapled card wrappers featuring a design by John Hayward, wrappers lightly tanned staining at rear and with a small indentation to the head of the front wrapper which impacts several subsequent leaves. Very good. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. Poems by Edward Thomas (“Edward Eastaway”). Selwyn & Blount, London 1917. Second edition (published one month after the October 1917 first edition and identical to it, save for the advertisements leaves and a single tiny textual correction). 8vo. 63pp + [ii] publisher’s advertisements at rear. Paper-covered boards with a paper spine label. Tissue-protected portrait frontispiece of the author taken by Duncan Williams. A trace of light wear to spine ends and tips of corners and just a tiny hint of fox spotting to endpapers and some browning to frontispiece margins, tissue and head of title page. A very good copy. Sixty-four poems, the author’s first regularly published collection of verse. £150

EDWARD THOMAS. Last Poems. Selwyn & Blount, London 1918. First edition, a  variant issue without the eight pages of advertisement (this version not noted by Eckert). Slim 8vo. 95pp. Paper-covered boards with a paper spine label. Some uneven tanning to boards and a little wear to spine ends. A strip of light browning to endpaper. Quite a bright copy, but printed on poor quality wartime paperstock. This copy housed in the most uncommon dust wrapper which highlights three quite lengthy press reviews and mentions his ‘Edward Eastaway’ pseudonym: the wrapper dust soiled and really quite tanned at the spine panel and with much lesser uneven tanning to the edges of the front and rear panels. Seventy-one poems, over thirty of them hitherto unprinted. Eckert pp. 245-55, who notes “The book is obviously a war-time production, of poor paper and binding; probably short-lived” – the fact that this copy retains the dust wrapper is neigh-on astonishing. £400

EDWARD THOMAS. Collected Poems. With a ten-page foreword by Walter de la Mare. Selywn & Blount, London 1920. First edition of this collection, containing one hundred and thirty-six poems. 8vo. 189pp. Blue cloth with a paper spine label, a tissue-protected portrait frontispiece and facsimile signature. A little light spotting and browning to endpapers and pastedowns, and cloth a little rubbed at extremities with a single tiny tear to the head of the spine. A touch of browning to title label. A very crisp and bright copy of an uncommon volume, lacking the fugitive dust wrapper. Contemporary (1928) former owner name and date neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Eckert pp. 246. £95

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a foreword by W.H.Hudson.  Duckworth, London 1922. First edition. 197pp. Spine slightly faded and very lightly rubbed at head and foot. Foxing to top edge and preliminary leaves. bookplate. A bright copy. Fifteen essays, many of them appearing here in bookform for the first time, with a number of others revised since their original publication. Hudson's foreword remains incomplete - he died shortly after accepting the commission, leaving but a fragment. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a foreword by W.H.Hudson. Dutton, New York [1923]. The first American edition. Covers just a little spotted. A bright copy. Fifteen essays. £15

EDWARD THOMAS. Selected Poems. With a thirteen-page introduction by Edward Garnett. The Gregynog Press, Montgomeryshire 1927. First edition, one of 275 numbered copies (this being #75). Tall 8vo. 95pp. In Eckert’s second state binding, yellow buckram covers with Japanese vellum paperstock with blue page ruling and red decorative initials. Spine lettering partially defective. A little uneven fading to buckram and the tip of one corner lightly chafed. No dust wrapper, as issued. A very crisp copy. Sixty-seven poems. Eckert p. 256. £225

EDWARD THOMAS. The Childhood of Edward Thomas. A Fragment of Autobiography. With a preface by Julian Thomas, the author’s younger brother. Faber, London 1938.  First edition. 8vo. 152pp. Covers a little tanned at some edges and with a small bump to the tip of one corner and some light spotting to the margins of endpapers and pastedowns. Two short creases to the corner of the front free endpaper. A bright copy. No jacket.  £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Rain. Thomas’ eighteen line poem, hand-set and printed at the press of Eric & Joan Stevens, London [1979?]. A single sheet, folded to form four pages. A little marked and creased. Uncommon. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. The Chessplayer and other essays. With an introduction by R.George Thomas and two wood engravings by Hellmuth Weissenborn. The Whittington Press, Gloucestershire 1981. First edition - one of 350 numbered copies (this copy un-numbered and marked ‘Review’). Tall 8vo. 28pp. Handsome marbled paper-covered buckram. In fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued. Includes the title essay plus the hitherto unprinted essay The Listener, and Penderyn. £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Bright Clouds. A poem. The Cherub Press [Solihull], 1984. A separate edition of Thomas’ eighteen line poem, handset and printed on Japanese handmade paper and tipped to a folding lettered card. Half a dozen very faint fox spots to the text. A very good copy of a delightful and uncommon piece of Edward Thomas ephemera, probably produced in very small numbers. £25

EDWARD THOMAS. Letters from Edward Thomas to Gordon Bottomley. Edited and with an introduction by R.George Thomas. Oxford University Press, London 1968. First edition. 8vo. 301pp. Illustrated with nine photographs. Jeremy Hooker’s copy, with his name inked to the front endpaper and his occasional light pencil marks to the margins. Edges spotted and lightly dust marked. A nice bright copy in edgeworn and a little dust marked dust wrapper. Nearly 200 letters and cards from Thomas to his friend and fellow poet Gordon Bottomley. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. Four Letters to Frederick Evans. Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1978. First edition, hand-printed and limited to 150 numbered copies to mark the centenary of Thomas' birth. This copy is out-of-sequence and marked "complimentary". Card wrappers, just a little chaffed at bottom edge and with a minor indentation to the cover. Internally in fine state. The page preceding the colophon appears to have been professionally removed, presumably in relation to the "complementary" nature of the item. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. The Letters of Edward Thomas to Jesse Berridge. Edited and with an eight-page introduction and a memoir of Jesse Berridge by Anthony Berridge. The Enitharmon Press, London 1983. First edition. 8vo. 97pp. A hint of spotting to top edge, else a fine copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. The transcript of seventy-seven letters from Thomas to Berridge (the other half of the correspondence did not survive). £30

EDWARD THOMAS. Letters to America 1914-1917. With an introduction and notes by R.George Thomas. The Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1989. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to thirty copies printed on Velin Arches paper (out of a total edition of 140 copies). Tall 8vo. Forty leaves sewn into paper wrappers with a handsome floral stiff paper dust wrapper. In fine state. A collection of letters from Edward Thomas, four of them to his aunt Margaret Townsend and eight to his friend and fellow poet Robert Frost (the last dated less than a month before his tragic death). £125

EDWARD THOMAS AND HELEN THOMAS. Personal Letters. Selected by R.George Thomas, with a foreword by Myfanwy Thomas and wood engravings by Hellmuth Weissenborn. The Whittington Press, Herefordshire 2000. First edition, one of 155 numbered copies (out of a total edition of 200). 4to. vi + 22pp. Paper-covered boards with a paper spine label and a small Weissenborn vignette to the upper board. Upper board lifting a fraction. Very good indeed. Six letters dated between 1900 and 1917, three from Helen to Edward Thomas, and three from Edward to Helen, illustrated with six sanguine Weissenborn wood engravings (part of the full suite of twelve recently discovered engravings, which do not appear in Hellmuth Weissenborn, Engraver). £65

GORDON BOTTOMLEY. [Edward Thomas interest]. The Riding to Lithend. Thomas B.Mosher, Portland Maine 1910. First US edition. Small 4to. 62pp. Paper-covered boards with paper spine and front board labels. One of 950 copies. A little rubbed at head and foot of spine, otherwise an extremely clean and bright copy. Includes the poem To Edward Thomas. £25

EDWARD THOMAS. E.S.P.Haynes. Personalia. Selwyn & Blount, London 1918. First edition. 8vo. 127pp. Backstrip very lightly faded and endpapers lightly and partially browned. A lovely crisp example. This copy from the library of publisher and Bloomsbury Group member Roger Senhouse, with his bookplate and pencilled signature. A collection of ten essays dedicated to Rupert and Alfred Brooke and including a chapter on Edward Thomas which originally appeared in the June 1917 issue of The English Review. (Thomas and Edmund Haynes met at Oxford during Thomas’ second year and because lifelong friends. Haynes drew up Thomas will and was the dedicatee of Thomas’ book on George Borrow). £55

EDWARD THOMAS. In Memoriam: Edward Thomas. With a cover, title-page, full-page drawing and endpiece woodcut by James Guthrie. The Morland Press, London 1919. First edition, published at number two of the 'Green Pastures' series. 8vo. 20pp stapled into card wrappers. A four-page Edward Thomas poem Up in the Winds (hitherto unprinted) is followed by seven Sonnets of April, dedicated to Edward Thomas by Vivian Locke Ellis; the six-page Edward Thomas as I Knew Him by J.W.Haines; the fifteen line poem Killed in Action by W.H.Davies; and the sonnet In Memoriam E.T. by Julian Thomas. Staples rusted, wrappers lightly rubbed and creased at yapped edges and with some uneven darkening to edges. Some light spotting to preliminary and concluding leaves and occasional others. Most uncommon. £125

EDWARD THOMAS. John Moore. The Life and Letters of Edward Thomas. With a foreword by D.Lloyd George. Heinemann, London 1939. First edition.  8vo. 343pp. With a photographic frontispiece and three plates. A tiny indentation to one edge, a trace of light spotting to board edges and also to several preliminary leaves. Half-title quite browned. A lovely bright copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. A biography of Thomas, followed by a selection of over eighty of his letters, the recipients including Helen Thomas, W.H.Hudson and John Freeman. £35 

EDWARD THOMAS. The Prose of Edward Thomas. Selected by Roland Grant and with a four-page introduction by Helen Thomas. The Falcon Press, London 1948. First edition. 8vo. 228pp. With a frontispiece by Robin Guthrie, reproduced from the original blocks. Top edge dust marked and with some spotting to edges preliminary leaves and some leaf margins. Backstrip lettering partially defective. Light pencil marks to a number of margins. A good copy. No dust wrapper. Contemporary former owner gift inscription neatly inked to front endpaper. Twenty-five essays and extracts. £8

EDWARD THOMAS (interest). Helen Thomas. As it Was [and] World Without End. Faber, London 1956. The first combined edition of Helen Thomas’ two volumes of memoirs. 8vo. 183pp. Some light occasional penciled notations to margins. A very crisp and bright copy in dust wrapper, lightly browned at spine panel and with several short edge tears and slivers of loss. £30

EDWARD THOMAS (interest). Elizabeth Jennings. Consequently I Rejoice. Carcanet, Manchester 1977. First edition. A hint of spotting to top edge, else in fine state with dust wrapper, very lightly tanned at spine panel. Eighty-eight poems including Jennings’ elegy For Edward Thomas. £15

EDWARD THOMAS (interest). Helen Thomas. Time & Again. Memoirs and Letters. Edited by Myfanwy Thomas. Carcanet Press, Manchester 1978. First edition of this hitherto unpublished collection of letters and memoirs. 8vo. 159pp + eighteen photographs. A small bump to the tip of a single corner and a tiny hint of light partial browning and speckling to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. W.M.Whiteman. The Edward Thomas Country. Paul Cave Publications, Southampton 1979. Reprint a year after original publication. 41pp + ii index. Stapled card wrappers. Illustrated with eleven photographs. A little spotting to margins of a single double-spread, else a nice bright copy. £10

EDWARD THOMAS (interest). Myfanwy Thomas. One of These Fine Days. Memoirs. With drawings by Henry Croly. Carcanet New Press, Manchester and Mid Northumberland Arts Group 1982. First edition of this account of the childhood of Myfanwy Thomas, daughter of Helen and Edward Thomas. 8vo. 164pp. Illustrated with photographs. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, just a little faded at spine panel. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. John Lehmann. Three Literary Friendships. Quartet Books, London 1983. First edition. 8vo. 184pp. A touch of spotting to top edge, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at head of spine panel. An account of the mutually creative friendship between Edward Thomas and Robert Frost (plus Shelly & Byron; and Verlaine & Rimbaud). £15

EDWARD THOMAS. R.George Thomas. Edward Thomas. A Portrait. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1985. First edition. 8vo. 331pp. With a facsimile page from Thomas’ notebook and twenty photographs.  Small bump to base of upper board and some occasional light pencilled marks and margin notes. A very bright copy in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at spine ends and with a shade or two of fading to spine panel. £15

EDWARD THOMAS. Michael Kirkham. The Imagination of Edward Thomas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1986. First edition. 8vo. 225pp. Edges very lightly spotted and just a trace of former dealer pencil marks to the tip of the front endpaper. A very good copy in slightly sunned dust wrapper. A scholarly study of the art of Edward Thomas. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. Stan Smith. Edward Thomas. Faber, ‘Student Guides’ series, London 1986. First edition – a paperback original. 221pp. Paperstock a little tanned and with some fairly discreet pencil marks to margins. Very good. £5

EDWARD THOMAS. Elected Friends. Poems for and about Edward Thomas. Complied by Anne Harvey and with a three-page introduction by Vernon Scannell. Enitharmon Press, London 1991. First trade edition. This copy signed by Anne Harvey on the title page. 136pp. Glossy card wrappers. A fine copy.  Seventy-six elegies and tributes contributed by Gordon Bottomley, W.H.Davies, Eleanor Farjeon, Robert Frost, Ivor Gurney, Wilfrid Gibson, Alun Lewis and others. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. Matthew Hollis. Now All Roads Lead to France. The Last Years of Edward Thomas. Faber, London 2011. First edition. 8vo. 389pp. Paper-covered boards. Illustrated with seventeen photographs and four maps. Backstrip bumped and a little creased. A very good copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at head of spine panel. £10