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. Windsor Castle. Described by Edward Thomas and pictured by Ernest Haslehust. Blackie, ‘Beautiful England’ series, London, Glasgow & Bombay 1910. The second edition, issued the same year as the first edition and identifiable as such only by the addition of three further titles to Beautiful England series advertisement. Small 4to. 56pp. Paper-covered boards with an in-set colour plate (a detail of the frontispiece). With a frontispiece and eleven captioned colour plates. Spine ends a little chipped, and with some chafing to extremities. Endpapers and pastedown lightly browned and spotted, and with a light scattering of further spotting to the fore edge. Former owner name inked to the front free endpaper. A nice bright copy. See Eckert pp. 207-8. £10

EDWARD THOMAS. Rest and Unrest. Essays. Duckworth, London 1910. First edition (Eckert’s first issue, with the gilt top edge and correct publisher’s imprint to the base of the backstrip). Small 8vo. 191pp. Vertical ribbed green cloth. Cloth lightly marked in places, with a little bruising and wear to the backstrip ends. Binding just a fraction tender in places. Free endpapers browned and with just a touch of spotting to two or three preliminary and concluding leaves. Contemporary (1911) former owner details neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Very good. No dust wrapper. Nine narrative essays, seven of which here make their first appearance in print. See Eckert p.204. £40

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. 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. Lafcadio Hearn. A biography. Constable ‘Modern Biographies’ series, London 1912. First edition, second issue, with a leaf of advertisements tipped-in before the half-title but otherwise identical to the first issue (which was itself preceded by the American issue, published six days earlier). Small 8vo. 96pp including five pages of publisher’s advertisements at the rear. Portrait frontispiece. A touch of wear to the backstrip ends. The free endpapers very lightly toned and with a tiny hint of spotting to very occasional leaf margins. Two former owner notations neatly inked to the front free endpaper. A virtually fine copy. No dust wrapper. Thomas’ biography of the celebrated Japanophile. See Eckert p.224-25. £25

EDWARD THOMAS. Lafcadio Hearn. A biography. Constable ‘Modern Biographies’ series, London 1912. First Edition, second issue, with a leaf of advertisements tipped-in before the half-title but otherwise identical to the first issue (which was itself preceded by the American issue, published six days earlier). Small 8vo. 96pp including five pages of publisher’s advertisements. Green cloth, gilt lettered and decorated at the spine, and with blind-stamped lettering and decoration to the upper board. Portrait frontispiece. Free endpapers very lightly toned and with a tiny hint of spotting to occasional leaf margins. A virtually fine copy in a somewhat distressed example of the uncommon thin paper dust wrapper, missing the lower half of the spine panel, with several further tiny fractions of loss from two or three extremities, and the front panel-spine panel joint really quite tender. Thomas’ biography of the celebrated Japanophile; uncommon in a dust wrapper. See Eckert p.224-25. £50

EDWARD THOMAS. The Country. B.T.Batsford, 'Fellowship Books' series, London [1913]. First edition. Small 8vo. 59pp. Blue cloth with gilt lettering, rule and decoration. Top edge gilt. Silk place marker. Backstrip faded and just the faintest hint of fox spotting to the free endpapers and to one or two preliminary and concluding leaves. A very crisp and bright copy. No dust wrapper, as issued. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. In Pursuit of Spring. With six tipped-in colour plates by Ernest Hazelhurst [i.e. Ernest Haslehust] with captioned tissue protectors. Thomas Nelson, London 1914. First edition, first state. 8vo. 301pp. Blue vertically ribbed cloth, gilt lettered at the spine and upper board with a small gilt ornament. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Map-illustrated endpapers. The six plates are correctly signed ‘E.W.Haslehust’ but the artist’s name is spelt incorrectly on the List of Illustrations page (seemingly a common occurrence with Haslehust contributions). Just a touch of darkening to the cloth at the board extremities, and a little light wear to the spine ends and corner tips. A single tiny area of surface abrasion to the head of the front free endpaper.  A lovely crisp copy, lacking the fugitive dust wrapper. An account of February 1913 bicycle tour from London to the Quantock Hills; and significantly the book which convinced Robert Frost that Thomas was in fact a poet, upon finishing it Frost urged his friend to turn his attention henceforth to verse. See Eckert pp.232-233. £350

EDWARD THOMAS (writing as ‘Edward Eastaway’) contributes eighteen poems (only the second bookform appearance of any of his poems) to An Annual of New Poetry 1917. Constable, London 1917. First edition. Tall 8vo. vii, 156pp. Paper-covered boards. Edges untrimmed. Boards lightly marked and the extremities gently rubbed. Some toning to the free endpapers, and spotting to half a dozen preliminary and concluding leaves. Gift inscription neatly inked to the front free endpaper, signed by ten individuals. A very good copy of an uncommon volume – only the second copy we have handled in the last decade - lacking the oh-so fugitive dust wrapper. Of these eighteen Edward Thomas poems, four had previously appeared in Six Poems (1916), with another three published (again under the Eastaway pseudonym) in the American magazine Poetry (IX, February 1917) with the remainder appearing in-print here for the first time. This annual was published on 13 March 1917, less than a month before Thomas’ death during the Battle of Arras. Other contributors include Gordon Bottomley (twelve poems), W.H.Davies (five poems), John Drinkwater (three poems), Robert Frost (six poems), Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (six poems), T.Sturge Moore (one poem) and R.C.Trevelyan (one poem). See Eckert p.259-60. £125

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 at 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 contributes a review of Richard Curle’s Shadows Out of the Crowd to a special double issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. XLIII, No. 253. October 1912. 4to. Internally stapled card wrappers, spotted, soiled and chipped with one small area of loss, and some chipping to spine. About a good copy. The supplement, a portrait of James McNeill Whistler, is laid-in, as issued. £20

EDWARD THOMAS contributes a review of S.Baring Gould’s The Church Revival: Thoughts Thereon and Reminiscences to an issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. XLVI, No. 272. May 1914. 4to. Stapled card wrappers, the staples rusted and defective and the wrappers lightly rubbed, chafed and dust marked. A nice crisp copy. £20

EDWARD THOMAS contributes a review of volumes XXI and XXII of The Collected Works of William Morris to an issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. VII, No. 281. February 1915. 4to. Stapled card wrappers. The staples rusted and the rear wrapper very lightly dust soiled. Very good. £20 

EDWARD THOMAS. Poems by Edward Thomas ("Edward Eastaway"). Selwyn & Blount, London 1917. The second edition, issued one month after the original October 1917 first edition and identical to it, save for the advertisements leaves, a single tiny textual correction and the identification of the poet's real name. Slim 8vo. 63pp + [ii] publisher's advertisements at the rear. Paper-covered boards with the paper spine label absent. Tissue-protected photographic portrait frontispiece of the author taken by Duncan Williams. Some toning, rubbing and wear to the boards, and some quite light bruising to the spine ends. A touch of browning and spotting to the pastedowns and free endpapers, and some off-set browning from the tissue to the margins of both the frontispiece and the title page. A good copy. Sixty-four poems, the author's first regularly published collection of verse (this second edition being the first collection published under his real name). £75

EDWARD THOMAS. Poems by Edward Thomas (“Edward Eastaway”). Selwyn & Blount, London 1917. Third edition (published two months after the October 1917 first edition and identical to it in every respect bar a single tiny textual correction to the printer’s imprint). 8vo. 63pp. Paper-covered boards with a slightly rubbed and tanned paper spine label. Tissue-protected portrait frontispiece of the author taken by Duncan Williams. Spine ends and corner tips a little rubbed, and with several small areas of surface abrasion. A little light spotting and browning to the endpapers. A very good copy. Sixty-four poems, a swift reprint of the author’s first regularly published collection of verse (the first edition of October 1917 was in the press when Thomas was killed in France). See Eckert p.241-245. £175

EDWARD THOMAS. Collected Poems. With a ten-page foreword by Walter de la Mare. Selywn & Blount, London 1920. First edition of this posthumous collection, containing one hundred and thirty-six poems. 8vo. xix, 189pp. Blue cloth with a slightly soiled paper spine label. With a tissue-protected portrait frontispiece and facsimile signature. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends and corner tips, a little light marking to the cloth, the backstrip lightly faded, and with just a trace of toning to the free endpapers. A small area of surface abrasion to the tip of the front free endpaper, probably from where a former dealer penciled price was erased a little too vigorously. A very good copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. Eckert pp. 246. £150

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a two-page foreword by W.H.Hudson.  Duckworth, London 1922. First edition. 8vo. 197pp. Spine ends just a little rubbed,  top edge lightly dust marked and with a little browning to endpapers and miscellaneous blemishing to half-title. A lengthy vertical crease to the rear free endpaper. A nice crisp copy in a poor example of the uncommon dust wrapper, separated into several parts and with some poorly executes taped repairs. Fifteen essays, many of them appearing here in bookform for the first time, and including two extracts from his only novel, The Happy-go-Lucky Morgans specially revised by the author for inclusion in this book. Hudson's foreword remains incomplete - he died shortly after accepting the commission, leaving but a fragment. £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a foreword by W.H.Hudson.  Duckworth, London 1922. First edition. 8vo. 197pp. Blue cloth lettered in gold at spine and in blind at upper board, with the publisher’s motif blind-stamped to the base of the rear board. A hint of rubbing to cloth at spine ends, and some light spotting to edges and preliminary leaves. A very crisp and bright copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. (See Eckert p. 250). £35

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a foreword by W.H.Hudson. Duckworth, London 1922. The second issue, in lighter blue cloth with the spine lettering stamped in black instead of gold, and without the blind-stamped publisher’s motif to the rear board. 8vo. 197pp. Spine ends and corner tips just a little rubbed, and with some spotting to edges, preliminary and concluding leaves and occasional leaf margins. Former owner bookplate to the front pastedown. Quite a bright copy. No dust wrapper. (See Eckert p. 251, who notes this second issue, but has not seen it). £15

EDWARD THOMAS. Cloud Castle and Other Papers. With a foreword by W.H.Hudson. Dutton, New York [1923]. The first American edition. 8vo. Covers just a little spotted. A bright copy. Fifteen essays. £15

EDWARD THOMAS [Selected Essays]. George G.Harrap, ‘Essays of To-Day and Yesterday’ series, London 1926. First edition. Small 8vo. 60pp + [i] bibliography. Blue cloth with white lettering to the spine and upper board (this binding variant not noted by Eckert). Spine ends rubbed and with a touch of spotting to preliminary leaves and to occasional margins. A strip of very light partial browning to the free endpapers. Former owner bookplate and inked name of the same. A nice crisp copy housed in a tanned and chipped patterned later issue dust wrapper (advertising twenty-seven titles on the front flap, as opposed to the seventeen mentioned within). An introductory note by F.H.P[ritchard]. precedes eight nature essays collected from Light and Twilight, Cloud Castle, Rose Acre Papers and Rest and Unrest. The seventeenth volume of Harrap’s Letters of To-Day and Yesterday series. See Eckert pp. 252-3. £35

EDWARD THOMAS. [Selected Essays]. George G.Harrap & Co. Ltd., 'Essays of To-Day and Yesterday' series, London 1926. First edition in a later state binding, not noted by Eckert. Small 8vo. 60pp + [i] bibliography. Bound in brown imitation leather, lettered in black at the spine and upper board. The absence of the coloured bordering, rule and ornamentation noted by Eckert suggests that this was one of the later issues, offered for sale as a lesser price than previously. A touch of wear to the spine ends, some light browning to the free endpapers, with some spotting to several preliminary and concluding leaves and, quite lightly, throughout. Former owner name neatly inked to the front free endpaper. A nice bright copy. An introduction note by F.H.P[ritchard] precedes eight essays gathered from his previous collections Light and Twilight, Clouds Castle, Rose Acre Papers, and Rest and Unrest. See Eckert pp. 252-53. £20

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. Modern Poets in Focus: 1. Edited by Dannie Abse. The Woburn Press, London 1973. The second edition, and first casebound issue (originally issued in 1971 as a paperback only). 8vo. 145pp. Upper board lifting a fraction. A very good copy in dust wrapper, just fractionally faded at the spine panel. Verse selections from six poets, each preceded with a five to seven page critical essay by Abse, occasionally augmented with prose by the subject. The poets featured are Edward Thomas (twelve poems), Ted Hughes, David Wright, Sidney Keyes, Douglas Dunn and Herbert Williams. £20

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 Fear of Death. A story. The Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1982. The first separate edition of this eight-page story, which was originally printed in H.W.Massingham’s weekly newspaper The Nation in October 1912. Limited to ninety-five numbered copies (this being #23), hand-printed on Barcham Green ‘Langley’ Paper. Slim 4to. Unpaginated. Plain card wrappers. Some occasional fairly light fox spotting. A very good copy in the original marbled paper dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at the yapped upper edge. £75

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 (writing as ‘Edward Eastaway’). Six Poems. Belmont Hall, Malvern 2017. A handsome private press edition; printed, published and illustrated by Andrew Judd and issued in an edition of 150 numbered copies (this being #24) to commemorate the centenary of Thomas’ death. 6pp sewn into plain black wrappers. With one handsome tipped-in drawing. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper, with an elegant decorate title label to the front panel. Includes the poems Sedge-Warblers, This is no case of petty right or wrong, Aspens, A Private, Cock-Crow and Beauty, all originally issued by James Guthrie’s Pear Tree Press in a limited edition of 100 copies – the only book of Thomas’ verse issued in his lifetime. £50

EDWARD THOMAS. Four Letters to Frederick Evans. The Tragara Press, Edinburgh 1978. First edition, hand-printed and limited to 150 numbered copies to mark the centenary of Thomas' birth. This copy is un-numbered and marked "complimentary". 8vo. Sewn card wrappers. With a photographic portrait frontispiece of Evans. The wrappers just a little chafed at the bottom edge and with a minor indentation to the cover. Internally in fine state. The text of four Edward Thomas letters written between July 1940 and October 1912 to City of London bookseller Frederick Evans, now most celebrated as the discoverer of Aubrey Beardsley. £20

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

EDWARD THOMAS. John Moore. The Life and Letters of Edward Thomas. With a foreword by D.Lloyd George. William Heinemann Ltd., London 1939. First edition. 8vo. xvii, 343pp. With a photographic frontispiece and three plates. Backstrip ends and corner tips lightly rubbed and bruised, and with a little marking and dust soiling to the cloth. Some fox-spotting to preliminary and concluding leaves, and to the leaf margins throughout. A good 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. Laid-in is a two-sided type written letter from Edward Thomas scholar Joan Stevens to poet and critic Jeremy Hooker, dated September 1976 and outlining the details of a planned Thomas anthology to which Hooker was to pen an introduction. £20

EDWARD THOMAS. C.Day Lewis contributes his Giff Edmonds Memorial Lecture The Poetry of Edward Thomas to Essays by Divers Hands. Being the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature.  New series, Vol. xxvii. Edited with an introduction by Angela Thirkell. Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, London 1956. First edition. 8vo. 157pp. Top edge lightly spotted and with a strip of light partial browning to the free endpapers. A very good copy in lightly tanned and rubbed dust wrapper. £15

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. 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