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. 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. 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 the spine and with the publisher's device gilt-stamped to the 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). £35
EDWARD THOMAS. The Tenth Muse. Martin Secker, London [1917]. Third issue with a new prefatory eight page memoir of Thomas by John Freeman. Vii, 141pp + ii publisher's advertisements. Blue smooth-weave cloth with a lightly tanned paper spine label. Endpapers lightly browned and with some spotting to a dozen preliminary and concluding leaves. A 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. See Eckert p.220. £35
EDWARD THOMAS. Algernon Charles Swinburne. A Critical Study. Mitchell Kennerley, New York 1912. The first American edition, published in December 1912, a month after the English edition. Tall 8vo. 242pp. Dark blue cloth lettered in gold at the spine and with gold-stamped lettering, a double-border, and an interlinking decoration to the upper board. Tissue-protected portrait frontispiece (from a painting by Rossetti). Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. The cloth very slightly discoloured at the backstrip, and a little marked at the rear board. A small nick to the cloth at the head of the spine. The half-title slightly spotted. Many leaves uncut at the fore edge. Handsome former owner bookplate to the front pastedown, and a tiny dealer plate to the base of the front free endpaper. A super unopened copy of the uncommon American edition, issued as part of a series of critical studies of famous authors (Thomas’ study of Walter Pater later appeared in the same series). No dust wrapper. See Eckert p.222. £150
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. 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. 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. £200
EDWARD THOMAS. Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds. With illustrations by Margery Gill. The Bodley Head, London 1965. Second edition of the author’s only book for children, comprising twenty-four stories (the order here re-arranged from the original edition of 1915), plus a new introduction by Helen Thomas and with endpaper decorations and twenty-four new illustrations by Margery Gill. 8vo. 94pp. A fine copy in very good pictorial dust wrapper also designed by Gill, lightly spotted and soiled at the rear panel, with a little chafing and wear to the upper edge. £30
CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICALS
EDWARD THOMAS contributes a review of Constance Elizabeth Maud’s translation of Alma Strettele’s Memoirs of Mistral to an issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. xxiii, no. 198, March 1908. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1908. First edition. 4to. Paginated 221-268 and bookended with advertisements. Stapled card wrappers, the staples rusted and partially defective, and the wrappers lightly toned at the margins. A short tear to the head of two concluding leaves (impacting no text), and with a former owner initials neatly stamped to the base of the upper wrapper. A nice crisp copy.The supplemental portrait of Charles Dickens is not laid-in. £15
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 Githa Sowerby’s play Rutherford and Son to an issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. xlii, no. 249, June 1912. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1912. First edition. 4to. Paginated 97-142 and bookended with advertisements. Stapled wrappers, lightly creased, the staples rusted and partially defective resulting in the wrappers being separate from the rest of the binding. Former owner initials neatly stamped to the base of the upper wrapper. A good copy.Separate colour Butler & Tanner advertisement sheet laid-in,as issued.£15
EDWARD THOMAS contributes reviews of Charles Doughty’s The Clouds and Clinton Scollard’s Songs of a Syrian Lover to an issue of the periodical The Bookman. Vol. xlii, no. 250, July 1912. Hodder & Stoughton, London 1912. First edition. 4to. Paginated 143-184 and bookended with advertisements. Stapled card wrappers, the staples rusted and partially defective with the wrappers detached from the rest of the binding. Former owner initials neatly stamped to the base of the upper wrapper. A good copy.Laid-in is the supplemental presentation plate portrait of Miss M.E.Braddon, as issued. £15
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
POSTHUMOUS PUBLICATIONS
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 foreword by Walter de la Mare. Selwyn & Blount Ltd., London 1920. First edition. 8vo. xix, 190pp. Blue cloth with a printed paper spine label. Tissue-protected portrait frontispiece. Some wear to the backstrip ends and corner tips, and to the outer upper and lower hinges, but the binding still perfectly sound. Free endpapers lightly toned. Lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. With the pencilled ownership signature of F. Spencer Chapman to the front free endpaper, beneath which he has noted the details of his alma mater, followed by “(See essay on E.T. in ‘On the Margin’, Aldous H) Compare – Shropshire Lad”. There are some further pencilled ticks in the text, seemingly to highlight preferred poems, and one passage of the foreword, plus a slip of paper to bookmark one further poem. Also laid in is a separate sheet of paper upon which has been inked the text of Thomas’ poems The Lane and The Watchers, both of which are omitted from this collection. A nice crisp copy, splendidly enhanced by the ownership details of a pre-renown Spencer Chapman. De la Mare’s ten-page foreword precedes 136 poems, essentially combining the content of Poems (1917) and Last Poems (1918). See Eckert pp. 246. £200
Freddie Spencer Chapman was an explorer, British Army officer and WWII veteran, most celebrated for his exploits behind enemy lines in Japanese occupied Malaya. In 1926 Chapman won a Kitchener Scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge to study history and English, and it must have been at about this time he acquired this volume. He was later a member of Gino Watkins’ 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition and the subsequent fatal 1932-33 Greenland Expedition; and in 1936 lead a five-man team that became the first to summit the holy mountain Chomolhari (a feat not repeated until 1970). He enlisted with the Seaforth Highlanders in 1939 and later joined the SOE’s Special Training School 101 in Singapore and, following series of escapades, eventually found himself cut off, spending three years in the Malayan jungle conducting guerrilla raids with the Chinese Communists, events recorded in his celebrated memoir The Jungle is Neutral (1948). He was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Polar Medal, the Gill Memorial Medal, Mungo Park Medal, and the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal. In his foreword to Chapman’s memoir Field Marshall Earl Wavell compares Chapman to T.E.Lawrence, noting that “for sheer courage and endurance, physical and mental… the two men stand together as examples of what toughness the body will find, if the spirit within it is tough”
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. 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. CloudCastle 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. Chosen Essays. Edited by Ernest Rhys, with engravings by Robert S.Maynard & Horace Walter Bray. Gregynog Press, Newtown 1926. First edition, limited to 350 numbered copies (this being #123). 4to. 102pp. In the second state binding of blue buckram, with gilt lettering to the spine and a small gilt-stamped decoration to the upper board. Bottom- and fore edges untrimmed. With an engraved portrait title page decoration, and twenty-two delightful engraved chapter header and occasionally tail-piece decorations. Some fading to the buckram at the backstrip, as is common with this production, and with a touch of further fading to several margins of the upper and lower boards. The free endpapers very slightly toned, and with some spotting to eight preliminary text leaves. Very good. Sixteen essays and sketches selected from the following collections: Horae Solitariae (1902), Rose Acre Papers (1904), Wales (1905), Light & Twilight (1911), Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds (1915), and Cloud Castle (1922). £95
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, CloudCastle, 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, CloudsCastle, 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. £40
EDWARD THOMAS. Alun John contributes five-page essay Edward Thomas: Anniversary Considerations to an issue of the periodical The Anglo-Welsh Review. Vol. 16, no. 38. Winter 1967. Edited by Roland Mathias. The Dock Leaves Press, Pembroke 1967. Card wrappers, a little soiled, toned and creased, with former owner-related numerals inked to the head of the upper wrapper. Some inked underlining and marginal notations to a number of the articles throughout, including the Edward Thomas piece. A good copy only. £10
EDWARD THOMAS. Jeremy Hooker contributes his essay The Writings of Edward Thomas: II to an issue of the periodical The Anglo-Welsh Review. Vol. 19, no. 43, autumn 1970. Edited by Roland Mathias. The Dock Leaves Press, Pembroke 1970. First edition. 8vo. 315pp. Card wrappers, just fractionally marked and chafed. A virtually fine copy. £10
EDWARD THOMAS. Diary of Edward Thomas 1 January – 8 April 1917 features in an issue of the periodical The Anglo-Welsh Review. Vol. 20, no. 45, autumn 1971. Edited by Roland Mathias. The Dock Leaves Press, Pembroke 1971. First edition. 8vo. 288pp. Card wrappers. Very good indeed. The first appearance in print of these final three months worth of entries in Edward Thomas’ private diary. The transcript occupies twenty pages in total and includes two manuscript reproductions plus a four-page introduction by R.George Thomas. Of particular note is the poem The Sorrow of True Love, which appears in the diary dated 13.i.17 and is the final poem he wrote. It appears in print here for the very first time. £20
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. 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. Thomas wrote the poem in early June 1916 whilst in a weekend of leave from Hare Hall camp in Romford where he was serving as an instructor in map-reading with the Artists Rifles. £30
EDWARD THOMAS. These Things Also Are Spring’s. Poems by Edward Thomas. Selected and introduced by Patrick Garland, with wood engravings by James Bostock. The Folio Press, London 1988. First edition. Tall 8vo. viii, 70pp. Quarter silk cloth with hand-marbled boards and paper spine and title labels. With a title page decoration and eleven wood engravings, printed in green. Top edge gilt, fore edge untrimmed. A fine copy in the original unprinted protector. This copy from the library of noted Edward Thomas enthusiast Anne Harvey, with her name pencilled to the base of an unprinted preliminary leaf. Laid-in are two hand-written letters from the illustrator James Bostock to Anne Harvey, detailing the background of the creation of his engravings. A five-page introduction precedes forty-seven poems followed by an index of first lines. A delightfully produced Folio Society edition of Thomas’s verse. Never reprinted. £125
EDWARD THOMAS. Poems by Edward Thomas (“Edward Eastaway”). With an introduction by Myfanwy Thomas and a two-page facsimile reproduction of a letter from Thomas. Imperial War Museum, ‘Arts and Literature’ series, London 1997. The facsimile reproduction the November 1917 re-issue of Thomas’ first full-length collection of verse, which was originally issued six-months after his death and is here re-issued in a limited edition of 300 numbered copies [this being #32] to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of his death. 8vo. ix + 63pp.. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Uncommon. £50
EDWARD THOMAS. An Edward Thomas Calendar for the Year 2000. Compiled by John Barnes who also contributes an introduction explaining his choice of poems. [no publisher], 1999. First edition. Seventeen pages with a plastic comb top edge binding. Very good. “A Poem for the Year” (There’s Nothing Like the Sun) precedes a poem selected for each month of the year millennium year. Uncommon. £15
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 LETTERS
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. Selected Letters. Edited and with a twelve-page introduction by R.George Thomas. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995. First edition. 8vo. xlvii, 192pp. Binder’s glue just a fraction tender at a single gathering, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, a little faded at spine panel. This copy from the library of Edward Thomas enthusiast Anne Harvey, with her name inked to the head of the front free endpaper. 126 letters written between January 1896 and April 1917, the majority hitherto unpublished. Oddly uncommon. £75
TRIBUTES TO AND BOOKS ABOUT EDWARD THOMAS
EDWARD THOMAS. John Moore. The Life and Letters of Edward Thomas. With a foreword by D.Lloyd George. Heinemann, London 1939. First edition. 8vo. xvii, 343pp. With a photographic frontispiece and three plates. Top edge dust soiled, and with some toning to the endpapers, and some spotting to the margins of half a dozen preliminary and concluding leaves. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. An iconic biography of Edward Thomas, reproducing over eighty of his letters, recipients including Helen Thomas, W.H.Hudson and John Freeman, and covering subjects like Richard Jefferies ("Jefferies has a kind of humour, which I want to try to define; at any rate a fantastic playfulness of mind this is very much like it; and he has irony and only too much ungainly sarcasm..."), W.H.Hudson, et al. £25
EDWARD THOMAS. The Prose of Edward Thomas. Selected by Roland Gant and with an introduction by Helen Thomas. The Falcon Press Ltd., London 1948. First edition. This copy inscribed by the editor on the title page: “For Paul in old and affectionate friendship twenty nine years later to mark The Crown Passage of time. Roland 18/4/77”. 8vo. 228pp. With a portrait frontispiece of Thomas by Robin Guthrie, reproduced from the original block. Top edge dust marked and with just a little spotting to the edges of several preliminary and concluding leaves. A touch of wear to the cloth at the backstrip ends, and the front hinge partially cracked. A good bright copy. No dust wrapper. A four-page introduction by Helen Thomas precedes twenty-five essays and extracts. £15
EDWARD THOMAS. R.George Thomas. Edward Thomas. University of Wales Press, ’Writers of Wales’ series, Cardiff for the Welsh Arts Council 1972. First edition, limited to 750 numbered copies printed on Basingwerk Parchment. Tall 4to. 80pp. Card wrappers. With a portrait frontispiece. Wrappers lightly chafed and dust marked with some fading to the spine panel text and a little spotting to the upper edge of the first three or four leaves. Quite a nice bright copy. £10
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. Andrew Motion. The Poetry of Edward Thomas. Routledge & Kegan Paul 1980. First edition. 8vo. x, 193pp. Edges, free endpapers and pastedowns quite lightly spotted, but thereafter a lovely crips copy in lightly faded, rubbed and spotted dust wrapper. Motion’s scholarly study of the life and work of Edward Thomas. £10
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. The Art of Edward Thomas. Edited and introduced by Jonathan Barker. Poetry Wales Press, Bridgend 1987. First edition. 8vo. 149pp + [i] note on the contributors. With a small photographic portrait frontispiece. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with a small area of fading to the publisher’s red spine panel colouring. This copy from the collection of noted Edward Thomas enthusiast Anne Harvey, with her name neatly inked to the front free endpaper, alongside a notation that she acquired it at the Imperial War Museum reception for the 70th anniversary of Thomas’s death. A sixteen-page introduction, chronology and bibliography precedes nine essays about various aspects of Thomas’ art, the contributors including Peter Levi, John Pikoulis, John Bayley, J.P.Ward and Jeremy Hooker. £15
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. Branch-Lines. Edward Thomas and Contemporary Poetry. Edited by Guy Cuthbertson and Lucy Newlyn and with a foreword by Andrew Motion and an afterword by Michael Longley. Enitharmon Press, London 2007. First edition. 8vo. 264pp. In fine state with dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at the upper edge with a single miniscule nick but no loss. £15
EDWARD THOMAS. Matthew Hollis. Now All Roads Lead to France. The Last Years of Edward Thomas. Faber, London 2011. First edition. A presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page: “To Anne [Harvey] – with kindness and care Matthew x” and with his printed name struck-through. 8vo. 389pp. Illustrated with seventeen photographs and four maps. Several light but lengthy readership creases to the backstrip. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper. Several newspaper clippings laid-in, alongside a publisher’s compliments slip bearing a further grateful inscription from the author to Anne Harvey (who was a noted anthology editor and Edward Thomas enthusiast, and is mentioned in the acknowledgements section). £35
EDWARD THOMAS. Edna Longley. Under the Same Moon. Edward Thomas and the English Lyric. Enitharmon Press, London 2017. First edition. 8vo. 302pp. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. A close reading of Thomas’ poetry, with reference to the author’s own extensive canon of verse criticism. £20
EDWARD THOMAS. Literary Walks in East Hampshire. East Hampshire District Council [no date]. A single sheet, folder to form four panels. Very good. With a photograph of Edward Thomas, one map and an accompanying circular route plan from Steep Church which takes in various houses Edward and Helen Tomas lived in including No. 2 Yew Tree Cottages, Red House, and Berryfield Cottage, plus the Edward Thomas Memorial Stone. £10
Clearwater Books - Specialising in Henry Williamson and Modern First Editions