Clearwater Books

CONRAD AIKEN. The Soldier. A poem. Editions Poetry, London 1946. First UK edition (originally published in the US two years previously), this copy inscribed by the author on the front endpaper and dated the year of publication. Slim 8vo. 40pp. Spine ends very lightly rubbed, endpapers a little spotted and printed on slightly sub-standard war-time paper-stock, yet still a very crisp and bright copy in tanned dust wrapper, a little chafed at extremities and with a single short closed tear and a minor accompanying crease. £50

KINGSLEY AMIS. Bright November. Poems. The Fortune Press, London [1964]. The second, unauthorised edition of the author’s uncommon first book. 32pp. A tiny hint of wear to head of spine and upper board lifting just a fraction. Corner of front endpaper clipped, presumably to remove a former owner name. A lovely crisp copy, internally flawless bar the aforementioned clipping. Housed in thin paper dust wrapper with the 12’6 price sticker to front flap. Wrapper tanned at spine panel, a little chaffed at rear flap joint, with some light sunning to some extremities and two areas of loss from spine panel. Thirty-one poems. £200

“The renown of the author prompted Caton to produce this second edition, but his omission to inform [Amis] of the existence or to benefit him from its sales must be construed as being rather more than forgetful-ness” – Timothy d’Arch Smith, R.A. Caton and the Fortune Press.

KINGSLEY AMIS. The Evans Country. Poems. Fantasy Press, Oxford 1962. Stapled card wrappers. Wrappers lightly sunned and with a tiny smattering of foxing. Neat former owner name inked to title page. A good bright copy. Six poems, all of which appeared previously in The Spectator but are collected here for the first time. £35

SIMON ARMITAGE. Five Eleven Ninety Nine. A Poem for the Millenium. With drawings by Toni Goffe. Clarion Publishing, Holybourne 1995. First edition, number 269 of 349 copies (out of a total edition of 499) signed by the author, illustrator and publisher. Tall 8vo. Twenty-eight unpaginated leaves sewn into card wrappers. A fine copy. £75

W.H.AUDEN. Epistle to a Godson and other poems. Faber, London 1972. First edition. Slim 8vo. 72pp. In fine state with fine price-clipped dust wrapper. Thirty-three poems. £12

GEORGE BARKER. A Vision of Beasts and Gods. Faber, London 1954. First Edition. 62pp. A smattering of foxing to preliminary leaves, else an extremely crisp and bright copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. Poetry Book Society Bulletin laid-in. Nineteen poems. £15

GEORGE BARKER. Collected Poems 1930-1955. Faber, London 1957. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 245pp. Some fairly light spotting to top- and fore edge else a fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly chafed at head and base of spine panel. Eight-six poems, selected and arranged by Barker, plus an index of first lines. £35

FRANCIS BERRY. Ghosts of Greenland. Poems. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1966. First edition. Tips of two corners lightly bumped else in fine state with price-clipped dust wrapper, just fractionally faded at spine panel. Twenty-two poems, including the 28-page verse play Illness and Ghosts at the West Settlement, an account of the Viking colonisation of Greenland commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on the Third Programme in 1965. £35

FRANCIS BERRY. Collected Poems. With a foreword by Philip Hobsbaum. Redcliffe, Bristol 1994. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on a blank flyleaf, and dated 1998. 8vo. 439pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Over 140 poems gathered from the author’s collections: Snake in the Moon, The Iron Christ, Fall of a Tower, Murdock and Other Poems, Gospel of Fire, Grindleford, Morant Bay, Ghosts of Greenland, Australia, From the Red Fort and Africa and Beyond, plus nine new poems, all hitherto unprinted in bookform, and an index of first lines. £75

JOHN BETJEMAN contributes his poem The Song of a Cold World to the anthology Public School Verse. An Anthology 1924-1925 – Betjeman’s first appearance in book-form. Heinemann, London 1925. First edition. 40pp. Paper-covered boards with paper spine label. Boards lightly tanned, a little marked at rear and with a little tight wear to head and foot of spine. Spine label rubbed and partially illegible. With a light smattering of foxing throughout and a single tiny ink mark to title page. A good copy, no dust wrapper. A presentation copy from E.O.Pearson (who contributes four poems). There is a neat name and date of the recipient (E.G.Pearson Sept 9. 1925) to the front endpaper, along with an additional amusing poem by Pearson which has been pasted in ("I'm sending you a triolet because the book was not in store: To show you that I don't forget I'm sending you a triolet. It's on the way, but not here yet [They say it takes three days or more]. I'm sending you a triolet because the book was not in store"). £100

JOHN BETJEMAN. A Garland for the Laureate. Poems presented to Sir John Betjeman on his 75^th birthday. The Calendine Press, Stratford-upon-Avon 1981. First edition – one of seventy-five numbered copies, out of a total edition of 350 (there were a further seventy-five casebound copies signed by the contributors). Unpaginated. 4to. Buckram-backed marbled boards. Edges untrimmed. With a handsome title page decoration by Miriam Macgregor. A sliver of discolouration and a small area of quite discreet staining to base of upper board, else a fine copy of a very handsome production, but lacking the slipcase. Former owner name inked to a blank preliminary. Twenty-two poems, all bar two previously unprinted, including contributions from Kingsley Amis, Leonard Clark, Charles Causley, Roy Fuller, Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin, Norman Nicholson, Alan Ross, Sacheverell Sitwell, Stephen Spender, R.S.Thomas, Anthony Thwaite, John Wain, Laurence Whistler and others. £200

“The project was kept a secret from J.B. and the book was presented to him by Roger Pringle as a surprise one morning, with many of the poets involved also present, having arrived at his Radnor Walk house in a fleet of taxis, accompanied by bottles of champagne and smoked salmon sandwiches” – from a letter from the publisher to Candida Lycett Green. 

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. Poems. With thirteen illustrations by T.S.Cooper, J.C.Horsley &c., engraved by Thurston Thompson. Van Voorst, London 1845. The first edition of this selection. Newly and attractively rebound in cloth-backed marbled boards, with printed spine-label (and a spare at rear). Very good. £40

WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT (under the pseudonym ‘Proteus’). Sonnets and Songs. John Murray, London 1875. First edition (never reprinted). Small 8vo. 112pp. Yellow pebbled cloth, a little marked, handled and soiled, lettered and ruled in gold at upper board and with a small gilt vignette of the sun. Blind rule to rear board. Some spotting to endpapers and, lightly, to occasional text leaves. Binding just a little tender in places. A nice bright copy. With the bookplates of noted bibliophile and bibliographic scholar Simon Novel-Smith and his Judith Adams. Fifty-one poems. Extremely uncommon. £200

WILLIAM BRONK. Careless Love and Its Apostrophes. Poems. Red Ozier Press, New York 1985. First edition, limited to 175 numbered copies, this being one of just forty casebound copies (#22), signed by the author in pencil at the foot of the colophon. 8vo. Unpaginated. Printed on Johannot mouldmade paper with hand-lettering by Anita Karl and bound into decorated paper-covered cloth designed by Claire Maziarczyk and with a paper spine label. A fine copy of a most handsome production, housed in the original unprinted acetate protector. Thirty-one poems. Uncommon. £150

WILLIAM BRONK. Living Instead. Poems. North Point Press, San Francisco 1991. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page and with an additional presentation inscription to Christopher Whelen. Slim 8vo. 98pp. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly chafed at the head of the spine panel. Laid-in is a copy of the University at Buffalo Christmas Broadside for December 1984 (second series, no. 6), featuring a poem by Bronk accompanied by a Eugene Canadé illustration. £50

RUPERT BROOKE. The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke. With a memoir [by Edward Marsh].  Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1928. The second edition, revised (with the addition of two new poems) and reset. 8vo. 162pp. Full black buckram with a paper spine label and a space tipped-in at the rear. With a tissue-protected portrait frontispiece and one further portrait plate. A touch of spotting to edges, occasionally encroaching to leaf margins, and a little light discolouration to buckram and a circular mark to the rear board. A bright, crisp copy in tanned and a little spotted and nicked dust wrapper. Keynes 14 (but an un-noted variant binding with a paper label instead of stamped backstrip and upper board lettering). £75

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. Poems. New and Selected. The Hogarth Press, London 1971. First edition. 8vo. 96pp. A tiny hint of spotting to top edge, else a fine copy in very slightly rubbed, creased and dust soiled dust wrapper. This copy from the library of poet and critic Jeremy Hooker, with his name neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Fifty poems, thirty-six of them reprinted from his two previous collections, Loaves and Fishes (1959) and The Year of the Whale (1965), and with sixteen new poems (some of which were originally printed in various periodical and anthologies). £25

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. Fishermen with Ploughs. A Poem Cycle. The Hogarth Press, London 1971. First edition. 8vo. 100pp. A touch of spotting to fore edge and two small holes to the rear board impacting about a dozen leaves as well as the rear panel of the dust wrapper. A very crisp copy in very slightly chafed and marked dust wrapper. This copy from the library of poet and critic Jeremy Hooker, with his name neatly inked to the front free endpaper. The author’s third full-length collection of original verse. £25

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. The Wreck of the Archangel. Poems. John Murray, London 1989. First edition. 8vo. 116pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper, the spine panel lettering lightly faded, else fine. Sixty-eight poems, most appearing in bookform here for the first time, with a few reprinted from the uncommon limited editions Stone and The Scottish Bestiary. £15

GEORGE MACKAY BROWN. Water. A five-part poem by Mackay Brown accompanied with a painting and a drawing by György Gordon. North and South, Middlesex 1996. First trade edition (published simultaneously with a limited edition of twenty-six signed copies). 8vo. 15pp. Stapled card wrappers. Fine bar a narrow strip of discolouration to wrappers. Uncommon. £35

NORMAN CAMERON. The Collected Poems of Norman Cameron 1905-1953. With a lengthy introduction by Robert Graves. Hogarth Press 1957. First edition. Paper-covered boards, a little bumped in places and endpapers lightly and partially browned. A bright copy in fractionally faded dust wrapper with a single miniscule nick. Fifty-seven poems. £25

ROY CAMPBELL. Collected Poems. The Bodley Head, London 1949. First edition – a presentation copy inscribed by Campbell to the publisher Michael Legat “…with thanks for the production”. 8vo. 297pp. A trace of spotting to top- and fore edge, else in fine state with lightly tanned and marked dust wrapper, rubbed and a little chipped at head of spine panel. Over 150 poems, the author’s complete published verse save items “not actually under revision”. £95

CHARLES CAUSLEY. Johnny Alleluia. Poems. Hart-Davis, London 1961. First Edition. 61pp. Pictorial paper-covered boards. In fine state with very good double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, lightly marked at rear panel. Thirty-two poems, Causley's fourth collection of verse. £10

AUSTIN CLARKE. The Sword of the West. Poems. Mansel & Roberts 1921. The first edition of his third book. Cloth-backed boards, a little stained, faded and rubbed. Spine-label chipped. Fly- leaves quite browned. Clipping pasted to half-title. £75

LEONARD CLARK. Selected Poems 1940-1957. Hutchinson, London 1958. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author on the front endpaper. 8vo. 107pp. Decorated paper-covered cloth. Top edge spotted else in fine state with dust wrapper, lightly chafed at head and base of spine panel. Seventy poems, a number here revised, and including twelve hitherto unprinted in bookform. £25

WENDY COPE. Family Values. Poems. Faber, London 2011. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Slim 8vo. 66pp. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Fifty-six poems, the author’s fourth regularly published adult collection. £25

A.E.COPPARD. The Collected Poems of A.E.Coppard. Jonathan Cape, London 1928. First edition. 8vo. 109pp. Endpapers lightly spotted and darkened at margins. A very good copy in dust wrapper, very lightly rubbed at spine ends. Sixty-five poems, collected from the author’s two previous collections Hips and Haws (1922) and Pelagae (1926), and including a number hitherto unprinted. £25

“Possibly this is the smallest volume of Collected Poems ever issued … if all Collected Poems could be got into as slim a compass it would not take the reader very long to know the worst about them” – from the author’s preface. 

HERBERT CORBY. Hampdens Going Over. Editions Poetry London 1945. First edition - this copy inscribed by the author: "To Olive, with best wishes. May 1946". 77pp. Patterned boards, slightly chafed at extremities. A very nice copy in chipped and repaired dust wrapper. Corby's first book. £45

HERBERT CORBY. Time in a Blue Prison. Fortune Press, London [1947]. First edition – a presentation copy from the author: "To my good friend and fellow poet, Arnold Vincent Bowen, with best wishes Herbert Corby, June 1947". Slim 8vo. 64pp. Boards a little rubbed at some extremities.  A hint of sporadic spotting, else a very bright copy in quite striking price-clipped dust wrapper, a little marked and tanned. Seventy-three World War Two poems. £50

FRANCES CORNFORD. Autumn Midnight. The Poetry Bookshop, London 1923. First edition. 8vo. 23pp. Card wrappers. With a frontispiece wood-engraving, wood-engraved initials and tailpieces, as well as cover decoration and colophon device by Eric Gill. Printed on hand-made paper by St. Dominic’s Press, Ditchling. Wrappers tanned, soiled and lightly creased, with a three-inch tear to the rear wrapper at natural fold, which has undergone some restoration but remains tender. Internally, a lovely bright copy. Seventeen poems. £100

MORRIS COX. The Whirligig and other poems. With a handsome unaccredited dust wrapper design by the author. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1954. First edition of the author’s first book – the only one to be issued by a regular trade publisher. 8vo. 88pp. A small unobtrusive Times library inkstamp to the rear pastedown, and a former owner bookplate to the front pastedown, alongside the faint ghost of a former dealer’s pencilled pricing. A nice, crisp copy in the handsome pictorial dust wrapper, chipped with some notable loss to the spine ends and a fraction more to tips of corners. Fifty-seven poems from the founder of the Gogmagog Press. £95

KEVIN CROSSLEY-HOLLAND. East Anglian Poems. With illustrations by James Dodds. Jardine Press, Suffolk 1988. First edition - limited to just 100 numbered copies on handmade paper, signed by both poet and artist, this being the very first number. Slim 4to. Full leather. With title-page and colophon decorations and twelve superb woodcuts, one colour-tinted, plus another on the rear endpapers. A hint of occasional chafing to leather else in fine state with original rexine slipcase. Small former owner name label to front pastedown. Sixteen poems, the fifth book published by Dodds' Jardine Press. Really quite scarce. £125

C.DAY LEWIS (writing as Cecil Day-Lewis) contributes his poems Dream Maker, Sanctuary, Once in Arcady and A Forest Piece to the anthology Ten Singers. Fortune & Merriman, London 1925. First edition. Demy 8vo. 24pp. Hand-set, printed on handmade paper and bound into card wrappers. Wrappers a little dusty, nicked and chipped at yapped edges and with several small areas of staining, but a lovely crisp copy internally. A small label noting the printing and pricing details (perhaps once part of a wraparound band) has been pasted to the inner wrapper, resulting in a small rectangle of offsetting to the adjacent free endpaper. Embossed ‘Presentation Copy’ stamp. A very good copy, some leaves uncut. Although dated 1925 this anthology was in fact issued in October 1924 thereby constituting Day Lewis’ first bookform appearance. Handley-Taylor & D’Arch Smith B1. £40

C.DAY-LEWIS. Beechen Vigil and Other Poems. The Fortune Press, London  [1925]. First Edition of the author’s first book. 31pp. Card wrappers with paper title label. Wrappers a little chipped and tanned, with yapped edges nicked. A light scattering of spotting to endpapers. Internally in extremely crisp state. Twenty-four poems printed on handmade paper, Day-Lewis’ first published collection (although he had contributed earlier in the year to Ten Singers, also published by The Fortune Press, under its first name of Fortune & Merriman). £150

WALTER DE LA MARE. The Veil and other poems. Holt, New York 1922. First American edition. 84pp. Attractive ornate gilt-pictorial cloth. A very bright copy. Handsome former owner bookplate to front pastedown. Fifty-three poems. £20

KEITH DOUGLAS. The Complete Poems of Keith Douglas. Edited by Desmond Graham. Oxford University Press 1978. The first edition of this definitive collection of Douglas' verse, drawing on newly available manuscript material. 8vo. 145pp. A tiny hint of spotting to edges and browning to endpapers. Very good indeed in very slightly marked dust wrapper. Over one hundred poems – all that are known to survive (bar a few juvenile pieces) and including three hitherto unpublished or collected. £50

CAROL ANN DUFFY. Rapture. Picador, London 2005. Second impression – this copy inscribed by the author on the title page. Slim 8vo. 62pp. Decorated paper covered boards. In virtually fine state. Fifty-two poems. £35

DOUGLAS DUNN. Terry Street. Poems. Faber, London 1969. First edition of the author’s first collection of verse. Slim 8vo. 62pp. A virtually fine copy in slightly discoloured dust wrapper with a small area of loss to the head of the spine panel. Forty-one poems, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and the Scottish Arts Council Book Award. £20

DOUGLAS DUNN. The Happier Life. Poems. Faber, London 1972. First Edition of the author’s second collection. A tiny trace of spotting to top edge, else in fine state with dust wrapper, fractionally tanned at spine panel. Thirty-nine poems. £15

LAWRENCE DURRELL. A Private Country. Poems. Faber 1943. First Edition. Cloth a little spotted and backstrip lightly sunned but internally in super state. With chipped dust wrapper, split into two parts and with several areas of loss. Durrell’s first major collection of verse, twenty-nine poems. £25

LAWRENCE DURRELL. Cities Plains and People. Poems. Faber, London 1946. First edition. 72pp. Covers triflingly spotted here and there. A very bright copy in slightly nicked, rubbed and faded dust wrapper. Neat name of former owner inked to front endpaper. Twenty-seven poems, Durrell's fifth collection. £30

LAWRENCE DURRELL. On Seeming to Presume. Poems. Faber, London 1948. First edition of the author’s third collection of verse. Slim 8vo. 59pp. Two or three tiny instances of spotting to top edge and to several preliminary, else a fine copy in very slightly rubbed and darkened dust wrapper. Twenty-three poems, one dedicated to Henry Miller and George Katsimbalis, and another to Paddy [Fermor] and Xan [Fielding]. £20

T.S.ELIOT. Poems 1909-1925. Faber & Gwyer, London 1925. First edition. Crown 8vo. 98pp. Smooth-weave cloth with tanned and a little chipped paper spine label. A little uneven fading to board edges, and spine ends a little rubbed. Free endpapers a little browned. Signs of quite careful plate removal from front pastedown and with a small area of surface abrasion to the title page verso where, presumably, a second label was removed. A trace of very occasional isolated spotting to upper margins of several text leaves. A lovely, crisp copy, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. Twenty-six poems, including Prufrock and The Hollow Men, yet particularly notable as the first printing of The Waste Land to include the Ezra Pound dedication ‘il miglior fabbro’ (‘the better craftsman’). £150

T.S.ELIOT. Collected Poems 1909-1935. Faber, London 1936. First edition. 8vo. 191pp. A touch of very light spotting to endpapers, and a small tear to the fore edge two text leaves, one of which also exhibits a tiny sliver loss. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel and a little chafed and edge worn with just a little loss from the head of the spine and some internal repair. Nearly seventy poems, including the first printing of Eliot’s Four Quartets verse Burnt Norton. 6,000 copies were printed. Gallup A32. £75

T.S.ELIOT. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Faber, London 1939. First edition of Eliot’s celebrated collection of feline verse. Tall 8vo. 45pp. Yellow cloth lettered in red at spine and with an author-designed red-stamped illustration to upper board. Just a trace of light spotting to endpapers and cloth just a little dust marked with a small stain to the base of the spine. A lovely crisp copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel, with a little uneven discolouration to front and rear panels and a tiny fraction of loss to head of spine panel and the tip of a single corner. Fourteen poems. £500

T.S.ELIOT. The Four Quartets. Complete in four volumes comprising East Coker, Burnt Norton, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Faber, London 1940-42. First editions. Individual volumes as follows: East Coker. First printing (published September 12th 1940). 8vo. 15pp. Wrappers somewhat tanned and soiled, and split at natural fold. Staples rusting and with the occasional pin-prick of spotting to leaf margins. Quite a nice, crisp copy. Burnt Norton. First printing (Published February 20th 1941). 8vo. 15pp. Wrapper extremities very lightly chafed with a tiny nick to the base of the natural fold. Staples rusting and a former owner name neatly inked to the head of a blank preliminary leaf. Very good. The Dry Salvages. First printing (published September 4th 1941) 8vo. 15pp. Wrappers a little faded, rubbed and dust soiled, staples rusting but internally in virtually fine state. Little Gidding. First printing (published December 1st 1942). 8vo. 16pp. Second state wrappers (stapled, not sewn), lightly rubbed and faded. Staples rusted and a neat former owner name to a blank preliminary leaf. Very good. Eliot wrote Burnt Norton whilst working on Murder in the Cathedral and it first appeared in print in his 1936 Collected Poems. The three subsequent poems were completed several years later, but East Coker was the first of the four to be issued as a separate volume (after first appearing in The New English Weekly). They were subsequently published in a single-volume casebound edition in the US in 1943 with a UK publication the following year. Gallup A36c, A37, A39 & A42. £325

PADRAIC FALLON. Collected Poems. Edited with an afterword and notes by Brian Fallon, and with an introduction by Seamus Heaney. Carcanet Press, Manchester and The Gallery Press,County Meath 1990. First edition – the uncommon casebound issue, published simultaneously with a card wrapper issue. 8vo. 280pp. A tiny hint of soiling to top- and fore edge, else a fine copy in dust wrapper, the publisher’s red spine panel colouring lightly faded. This copy from the library of Lilliput Press founder Anthony Farrell, with his bookplate to the front pastedown. Laid-in is an invitation to The Gallery Press launch event (with readings by Heaney) and also a postcard to Farrell from Irish poet, critic and musician Fred Johnston. Over 170 poems and translations, including a number of hitherto unprinted early poems and radio play lyrics. £30

ROY FISHER. Collected Poems 1968. Fulcrum Press, London 1969. First edition – a presentation copy inscribed by the author to fellow poet Jeremy Hooker: “To Jeremy, signed with an older hand than wrote it. Roy 8.ii.89”. Slim 8vo. 79pp. Cloth very lightly dust marked and top edge spotted. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little chafed, nicked and dust marked. Thirty-nine poems (Jeremy Hooker’s neat pencilled notes can be found at the margins of nine of them). £30

ROBERT FROST. Selected Poems. William Heinemann, London 1923. First UK edition of this selection. 8vo. 132pp. Navy blue cloth with paper spine label. Top edge lightly dust soiled and with some browning to the endpapers. A very good copy, housed in the uncommon dust wrapper, exhibiting an inch of loss from the head of the spine panel and a further sliver from the head of the rear panel, and with some tanning, most especially to the spine panel. Forty-three poems, dedicated to Helen Thomas in memory of Edward Thomas. £150

ROBERT FROST. Selected Poems. William Heinemann, London 1923. First UK edition of this selection. Blue cloth with tanned and a little chipped paper spine label. Cloth a little marked and chafed at extremities, with some browning to the endpapers and a very light scattering of spotting to half-title and title page. A nice, bright copy without the scarce dust wrapper. Forty-three poems, dedicated to Helen Thomas in memory of Edward Thomas. £40

ROBERT FROST. Selected Poems. With twenty-five pages of introductory essays by W.H.Auden, C.Day Lewis, Paul Engle and Edwin Muir. Jonathan Cape, London 1936. First edition of this uncommon selection of sixty-two poems selected by the author. 8vo. 221pp. A trace of light wear and discolouration to cloth at spine ends and a little spotting to fore edge and, very occasionally, to text leaves. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel with a little light spotting and some notable loss to spine ends. A small portrait of Frost, clipped from a newspaper, has been pasted to the front endpaper, where it remains partially obscured by the wrapper flap. £95

ROY FULLER. Poems. The Fortune Press, London [1940]. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author at the head of the front free endpaper and dated the year of publication. 8vo. 39pp. Boards lightly marked in places where adhesive from the dust wrapper protector has become adhered. A light scattering of fox spotting to endpapers and half-title. Several leaves uncut. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little tanned at spine panel with several tiny slivers of loss to spine ends and corner tips. Twenty-nine poems, the author’s first book. £125

W.S.GRAHAM. The White Threshold. Poems. Faber, London 1949. First edition of the author’s uncommon fourth collection of verse. Slim 8vo. 70pp. Top edge very lightly dust marked and with a small area of spotting to the front pastedown and endpaper. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, a little darkened to several edges and with a touch of spotting to the rear panel and a centimetre or so of loss to the head of the spine panel and one or two other tiny fractions of loss to extremities. Publisher’s compliments slip laid-in stating “With Compliments of the author” (the first two words printed, the final three typed). Thirty-one poems. 1,200 copies were printed. £200

W.S.GRAHAM. Malcolm Mooney’s Land. Poems. Faber, London 1970. First edition. 8vo. 64pp. The merest hint of light partial browning to endpapers, else a fine copy in very good dust wrapper, the spine panel just fractionally faded and with perhaps a hint of dust soiling to the rear panel. Nineteen poems, the author’s sixth collection of verse (and his first publication following the fifteen year silence which followed his collection The Nightfishing). £35

ROBERT GRAVES. Country Sentiment. Poems. Martin Secker, London 1920. First Edition. ‘Cobble-stone’ decorated paper-covered boards with paper spine label. A strip of light partial browned in endpapers and some spotting throughout. Tiny dealer plate to front pastedown. A nice bright copy in the uncommon dust wrapper,  slightly dust marked and tanned and chipped at spine panel. Graves’ fifth book, forty-six poems, dedicated to his wife Nancy Nicholson. 1,000 copies were printed. £125

ROBERT GRAVES. Poems 1953. Cassell, London 1953. First edition. Foot of spine slightly bumped. A very bright copy in dust wrapper. £25

PHILIP GROSS. The Ice Factory. Poems. Faber, London 1984. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 62pp. Card wrappers (never issued in casebound format). In fine state. Forty poems, the author’s first collection of verse (Gross’ 2009 collection The Water Table would go on to win the T.S.Eliot prize). £25

THOM GUNN. [Poems]. The Fantasy Poets Number Sixteen. Oxford University Poetry Society 1953. First edition of the author’s first book, consisting of the following poems: Incident on a Journey, Wind in the Street, The Wound, The Beach Head, The Right Possessor and A Village Edmund. Stapled wrappers, a little marked with a small tear to the base of the natural fold. Staples rusted. Quite a nice, bright copy. Edited by Donald Hall and Oscar Mellor, this is the sixteenth issue of this influential series "designed to feature the work of young poets in England today". In total thirty-five issues were eventually published between 1952-1962. £95

THOM GUNN. Fighting Terms. Poems. Fantasy Press, Oxford 1954. First Edition, second issue (incorporating a single minor textual correction to the poem Tamer and Hawk). 44pp. Cloth a little marked and handled. Endpapers really quite browned, yet otherwise an extremely fresh copy internally. Twenty-five poems, the author’s first substantial book. The first and second states comprised only 305 copies. No dust wrapper, as issued. £150

THOM GUNN. The Sense of Movement. Poems. Faber, London 1957. First edition. Slim 8vo. 62pp. Some spotting and browning to endpapers. A very crisp copy of the author’s second collection of verse, of which 1,000 copies were printed. Housed in tanned and spotted dust wrapper with several small areas of loss from spine ends and tips of several corners. Thirty-two poems. £50

H.D. [Hilda Doolittle]. Hymen. Poems. The Egoist Press, London 1921. First Edition of the author’s scarce second collection of verse. Printed at the Pelican Press. 46pp. Decorated paper-covered stiff card wrappers with paper title label, lettered and ornately bordered in blue. Chipped at head and base of spine with a large portion of the backstrip absent, but the binding itself still perfectly sound. The paper covering is a little chipped at several extremities with several repaired tears. Neat former owner name inked to first leaf alongside the ghost of a partially erased pencilled note. Twenty-three poems, dedicated to her lover Bryher and her daughter Perdita. £95

MICHAEL HAMBURGER. Collected Poems 1941-1994. Anvil Press Poetry, London 1995. First edition. 8vo. 475pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper. Over three-hundred and twenty poems, including over seventy which do not appear in the author’s Collected Poems 1941-1983. £20

TONY HARRISON. The Loiners. Poems. London Magazine Editions, London 1970. First edition of the author’s first regularly published book (preceded only by the pamphlets Earthworks and Newcastle is Peru, the latter reproduced here). This copy signed by the author on the title page and dated three years after publication, and additionally inscribed (to fellow poet Jeremy Hooker and his wife). 8vo. 96pp. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at several extremities. Twenty-two poems. £125

SEAMUS HEANEY. Sweeney Astray. A version from the Irish. Field Day Theatre Company, Derry 1983. First edition – the casebound issue. This copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 77pp. Illustrated with several decorations by Colin Middleton. Some fairly light spotting to top edge and several preliminary and concluding leaves. A very good copy in virtually fine dust wrapper. Heaney’s version of Buile Suibhne, the classic of medieval Irish literature. 1,000 copies were printed (plus a further 3,000 in wrappers). Brandes & Durkan A34a. £350 

SEAMUS HEANEY. The Spirit Level. Poems. Faber, London 1996. First edition. Slim 8vo. 70pp. A light scattering of spotting to endpapers and several preliminary leaves. Very good indeed in fine dust wrapper. Thirty-five poems, the author’s ninth major collection of verse. £35

GEOFFREY HILL. King Log. Poems. Andre Deutsch, London 1968. First edition of the author’s second book. 8vo. 70pp. Top edge lightly dust marked and with just a trace of tanning to paperstock and a strip of light browning to title page. Very good in lightly chafed dust wrapper, with some quite light tanning and staining to spine panel. Eighteen poems including a revised version of In Memory of Jane Fraser (“I dislike the poem very much and the publication of this amended version may be regarded as a necessary penitential exercise” - note) plus a short essay. £70

RALPH HODGSON. The Last Blackbird and Other Lines. George Allen, London 1907. First edition, first issue. Slim 8vo. 95pp. Russet cloth lettered in gold at spine and upper board. Top edge gilt (as required for this first issue), others rough-trimmed. A little light wear to spine ends and corner tips, and just a touch of browning to endpapers. Very good. Contemporary former owner gift inscription inked to the head of the front free endpaper. Twenty-six poems, the author’s uncommon first collection of verse. £50

RALPH HODGSON. Collected Poems. Macmillan, London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 185pp. Portrait frontispiece. Top edge dust marked and with a tiny sliver of spotting to the free endpapers. A very good copy in dust soiled, chafed and a little rubbed price-clipped dust wrapper. Eight-five poems reproduced from his collections The Last Blackbird and Other Lines (1907), Poems (1917) and The Skylark and Other Poems (1958), plus an index of first lines. £15

MICHAEL HOFMANN. Acrimony. Poems. Faber, London 1986. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. 8vo. 79pp. Some tanning to lesser-quality paperstock, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Forty-four poems, the author’s second collection of verse, for which he was awarded the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. £35

ALDOUS HUXLEY. The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems. Blackwell ‘Initiates Series’, Oxford 1918. First edition. Patterned card wrappers, a little rubbed at some extremities. Title-hinge tender. An attractive copy. £75

THOMAS KINSELLA. Her Vertical Smile. Poems. Peppercanister, Dublin 1985. First edition, limited to 350 copies (out of a total edition of 425), this one signed by the author on the title page. 25pp. Card wrappers with French flaps. A virtually fine copy. A two-part verse sequence, issued as Peppercanister #10 (published simultaneously with Kinsella’s Songs of the Psyche which appeared as Peppercanister #9). £50

PHILIP LARKIN. The Less Deceived. Poems. The Marvell Press, East Yorkshire [1956]. The second edition (and first paperback issue) of Larkins’s third collection of verse, reset and corrected. 43pp. Sewn card wrappers, a little rubbed and chaffed at yapped edges. A nice bright copy in dust wrapper, faded at spine panel and a little rubbed and nicked at spine ends. Twenty-nine poems. 1,320 copies were printed. Bloomfield A6. £75

PHILIP LARKIN. High Windows. Poems, Faber, London 1974. First edition. Slim 8vo. 42pp. Contemporary former owner name neatly inked to the head of the title page, else in fine state with none of the customary endpaper browning, and housed in a fine example of the dust wrapper. Twenty-four poems, Larkin's final collection of verse, of which 6,000 copies were printed.Bloomfield A10. £95

PHILIP LARKIN. Aubade / Frühmorgenlied. Translated into German by Richard Glabotki and with seven illustrations by Maximilian Perna. Literarisches Bureau Christ & Fez, Stuttgart 2012. First Edition Thus, limited to 111 numbered copies each signed by the artist. 24pp. Card wrappers. A fine, unread copy of an elegant production. The fourth translation into German of Larkin’s final major poem, but the first to be issued as a separate edition. Text in German and English. £35

LAURIE LEE. The Sun my Monument. The Hogarth Press, ‘New Hogarth Library’ series, Vol. XIII, London 1944. First Edition. 48pp. A very nice, bright copy in marked and tanned dust wrapper, very lightly chafed at one or two extremities. Lee's quite scarce first book - a slim volume of thirty-eight poems. £60

JOHN LEHMANN. The Reader at Night and Other Poems. Basilike, Toronto 1974. First edition, limited to 250 signed and numbered copies designed, handset and printed at the Dreadnaught Press. Small 4to. Unpaginated. Marbled paper-covered cloth with a paper spine label (and a spare tipped-in). Ghost of former owner pencil markings to front endpaper. An extremely clean and bright copy. Twelve poems. £35

ALUN LEWIS. In the Green Tree. Hitherto uncollected stories and a selection from his letters. With drawings by John Petts. Allen & Unwin, London 1948. First edition. 141pp. Endpapers lightly spotted, else a virtually fine copy in slightly dusty publisher price-clipped dust wrapper. £15

MICHAEL LONGLEY. No Continuing City. Poems 1963-1968. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1969. First edition of the author’s first regularly published collection (which was preceded by two pamphlets). Slim 8vo. 56pp. Some fairly light spotting to endpapers and several concluding leaves, and to occasional text leaves. A very crisp copy in price-clipped and a little rubbed, marked and chafed dust wrapper exhibiting some light internal spotting. A brief dedicatory verse precedes thirty-seven poems. Uncommon, especially in the casebound format (a UK edition was published alongside this Irish issue, but that one was only issued in wrappers). £150

MICHAEL LONGLEY. An Exploded View. Poems 1968-1972. Victor Gollancz, London 1973. First edition – a presentation copy inscribed by the author to poet and critic Jeremy Hooker: “For Jeremy every best wish Michael. Sligo 21.viii.74”. Slim 8vo. 64pp. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, faded at spine panel and to extremities of front and rear panels and with just a touch of edge wear and a single short tear. Thirty-nine poems plus a short printed verse dedication to Derek (Mahon), Seamus (Heaney) and Jimmy (Simmons): the author’s second full-length collection. £175

MICHAEL LONGLEY. The Echo Gate. Poems 1975-1979. Secker & Warburg, London 1979. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Slim 8vo. 53pp.. A fine copy in fine dust wrapper. A printed dedication in verse to Michael Allen and Paul Muldoon precedes thirty-five poems. £55

ALEXIS LYKIARD. Skeleton Keys. Poems. Redbeck Press, Bradford 2003. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author: “For Hugo [Manning] – my versions of filial ‘explanation’, excavation, exorcism, etc! Alexis Exeter May 2003”. 52pp. Card wrappers. A trace of dust marking to rear wrapper, else in fine state. Twenty-eight poems exploring the Greek Civil War that followed the German occupation of Greece during WW2. £20

ALEXIS LYKIARD. Unholy Empires. Various Verses Versus. Anarchios Press, Exeter 2008. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author: “For Hugo [Manning] – some ‘saeva indignatio’ from Alexis.” 60pp. Card wrappers, in fine state. Forty-nine poems. £20

HUGH MACDIARMID. Penny Wheep. Poems. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London 1926. First edition of the author’s second book of verse, with the second state pebbled board binding. 8vo. 90pp + vi publisher’s catalogue at rear. A trace of light partial browning to endpapers and several tiny slivers of discolouration to cloth extremities. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel and extremities of front and rear panels, and a little rubbed, stained and chipped with several tiny slivers of loss. Forty-seven poems and a glossary. £50

ROGER MCGOUGH. Watchwords. Poems. Jonathan Cape, London 1969. First edition – the most uncommon casebound issue. Slim 8vo. 56pp. Marbled paper-covered cloth. Just a trace of light spotting to edges, else a fine copy in tanned and occasionally marked pictorial dust wrapper. Thirty-two poems, McGough’s first collection, really quite scarce in this casebound state (a more common paperback version was issued simultaneously). £100

ROGER MCGOUGH. After the Merrymaking. Poems. Jonathan Cape, London 1971. First edition. Slim 8vo. 71pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper, fine but for the tiniest area of chafing to head of spine panel. Forty-seven poems, the author’s second collection of verse which, like his first collection Watchwords, is extremely uncommon in this casebound format (a more common paperback version was issued simultaneously). £75

ROGER MCGOUGH. The Way Things Are. Poems. Viking, London 1999. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the front endpaper and dated the year of publication. Slim 8vo. 83pp. In fine state with fine dust wrapper.  Fifty-seven poems, all bar three appearing here in print for the first time. £25

LOUIS MACNEICE. Blind Fireworks. Poems. Victor Gollancz, London 1929. First edition, first issue of the author’s most uncommon first book, of which 1,000 copies were printed. Small 8vo. 80pp. Cream linen cloth with a white paper spine label (a second issue was bound in black cloth with a blue spine label). Cloth somewhat soiled and just a fraction rubbed at tips of corners. Several small chips to spine label. Endpapers browned but thereafter quite a nice, crisp copy internally, save for a tiny trace of very occasional spotting. Lacking the dust wrapper. A foreword by the author precedes forty-four poems. Armitage & Clark (A1) do not mention the two states, but fortunately Peter Jolliffe of Ulysses Books did. £250

LOUIS MACNEICE. Poems. Faber, London 1935. First edition. Slim 8vo. 66pp. Just a hint of spotting to top edge, and a small area of surface abrasion to the front free endpaper. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the front pastedown. Very good indeed in dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel with three or four tiny closed tears and just a sliver of loss from the head of the spine. Thirty-two poems, the author’s third book, of which 6,691 copies were printed. Armitage & Clark A3. £150

LOUIS MACNEICE. The Earth Compels. Poems. Faber, London 1938. First edition of the author’s third collection of poetry. 8vo. 64pp. A small area of staining to the base of the lower board, and a strip of partial browning to endpapers. A very good copy in a little chafed, tanned and internally reinforced dust wrapper. Former owner gift inscription (dated 1942) neatly inked to the front free endpaper. Twenty-four poems. 3,640 copies were printed. Armitage & Clark A8. £40

CHARLES MADGE. Of Love, Time and Places. Selected Poems. Anvil Press Poetry, London 1994. First edition of this major retrospective collection of Madge’s published verse. 8vo. 215pp. A virtually fine copy in fractionally rubbed and soiled dust wrapper. This copy from the library of David Gascoyne, with his bookplate to the front pastedown and a friendly hand-written letter and postcard from Charles Madge laid-in (“…thank you so much for all you generously write about ‘Love, Time and Places’….I am happy to know that is how you feel these long years after….”). £50

DEREK MAHON. The Sea in Winter. [A poem]. With a single full-page illustration by Timothy Engelland. The Deerfield Press, Massachusetts and The Gallery Press, Ireland 1979. First edition, limited to 300 copies printed by Harold McGrath and each signed by the author. Slim 8vo. Thirteen pages of unpaginated printed text, cloth-bound and lettered in gold at spine. In fine state with dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at tips of several corners and at  the head of the spine panel. £75

ROLAND MATHIAS. Days Enduring. Poems. Arthur H.Stockwell, Ilfracombe [1942]. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author “To Jerry [i.e. Jeremy Hooker] / Roland / 12^th November 1988”. Slim 8vo. 64pp. Paper-covered boards. A little rust marking to endpapers from the internal staples. Very good indeed in the original unprinted thin paper dust wrapper. Sixty-one poems, the author’s highly elusive first book. £75

ROLAND MATHIAS. Absalom in the Tree and other poems. Gomer Press, Llandysul 1971. First edition – this copy inscribed by the author: “For Jeremy [Hooker] / whose encouragement / and criticism I acknowledge / with deep gratitude / Roland / 14 August 1971”. Slim 8vo. 50pp.  A very good copy in dust wrapper, with a small area of rubbing to top edge and some light internal spotting. Twenty-three poems, winner of the Welsh Arts Council prize for poetry. £25

ROLAND MATHIAS. Snipe’s Castle. Poems. Gomer Press, Llandysul 1979. First edition – this copy with a lengthy presentation inscription from the author to Jeremy Hooker, dated the year of publication. Slim 8vo. 89pp. A trace of bruising to spine ends and marking to boards. Very good indeed in lightly tanned and faded dust wrapper. Thirty-one poems, winner of the Welsh Arts Council prize for poetry. £25

W.S.MERWIN. Green with Beasts. Poems. Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1956. First edition of the author's third book - and the first to be published in the UK. 8vo. 85pp. Paper-covered boards. A lengthy but light crease to the front free endpaper. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned and a little chafed at spine panel with a single tiny enclosed tear and a small area of staining. The wrapper is complete with the original Poetry Books Society Choice wraparound band, with just a touch of tanning and a small area of loss. A dedicatory verse precedes thirty-nine poems. £25

CHARLOTTE MEW. The Rambling Sailor. Poetry Bookshop, London 1929. First edition. 45pp. Boards, faded at edges and missing tip of head of spine. No dust wrapper. Handsome former owner bookplate to front pastedown. With a portrait frontispiece and facsimile signature. Thirty-two poems, including six early verses. £15

PAUL MULDOON. Medley for Morin Khur. Poems. Enitharmon Press, London 2005. First edition, limited to 200 numbered and signed copies (175 of which were for sale). Tall 8vo. 25pp. Plain card wrappers with a handsome marbled paper dust wrapper (with exhibits a little internal off-setting from the marble design). In virtually fine state. The title poem followed by the thirteen-part sonnet sequence Horse Latitudes. £50

PAUL MULDOON. Plan B. Poems. With photographs by Norman McBeath. Enitharmon Press, London 2009. First edition. Slim 8vo. 63pp. Tip of one corner bumped, else a fine copy in fine dust wrapper. Ten poems, accompanied by twenty-eight McBeath photographs. £15

LORINE NIEDECKER. From This Condensery: The Complete Writings of Lorine Niedecker. Edited by Robert J.Bertholf. The Jargon Society, [North Carolina] 1985. First edition, of which 2500 copies were printed. Large 8vo. 336pp. A fine copy in dust wrapper, very lightly faded at spine panel and a little rubbed and with several tiny nicks to edges, but no loss. The one hundredth book issued by Jonathan Williamson’s Jargon Society press: Niedecker’s complete verse output, plus her lesser-known radio plays, essays and stories. “Twice as much Niedecker – in correct order – as anyone had imagined there was” – Jonathan Williams. £50

CLERE PARSONS. Poems. Faber, London 1932. First edition of the author’s only book (he edited the 1928 issue of the Oxford Poetry, but died of pneumonia a year before this collection of his verse was published at the age of only twenty-three). 8vo. 31pp. Card wrappers with an integral dust wrapper. Wrappers detached and a touch of very light spotting to occasional leaves. A fairly poorly preserved copy of an uncommon item. Eighteen poems. £75

MERVYN PEAKE. The Glassblowers. Poems. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1950. First edition. A strip of light partial browning to endpapers else a lovely crisp copy in superb Peake-illustrated dust wrapper, chafed at head and base of spine panel and the tips of several corners. A single tiny small ink-stain to the rear wrapper panel which has bled through to the rear board. Thirty-five poems, some written during and after the second world war and the remainder inspired by his visit to a Birmingham glass-blowing factory on a war-artist commission. £135

SYLVIA PLATH. Winter Trees. Poems. Faber, London 1971. First edition. Slim 8vo. 55pp. A small miniscule blemish to the rear board, else a fine copy in very good dust wrapper, with a single tiny internally repaired tear and a small area of surface abrasion to the rear panel. Nineteen poems, Plath's final collection, written during the final nine months of her life and published posthumously with a brief note by T[ed] H[ughes]. £40

WILLIAM PLOMER. Selected Poems. The Hogarth Press, ‘The New Hogarth Library’ series, vol. 1, London 1940. First Edition. 75pp. Paper-covered boards, lettered in red at spine. Former owner details neatly inked to front endpaper plus three stamped numerals. A good, bright copy in dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel and with some notable spotting. Thirty-one poems. £10

PETER PORTER. Once Bitten, Twice Bitten. Poems. Scorpion Press, Middlesex 1961. First Edition of the author’s first book. 57pp. Top edge lightly spotted and with a tiny hint of additional spotting to several preliminary leaves and a few others. A very good, bright copy in laminated dust wrapper, lightly faded at spine panel and with some spotting to rear panel and front flap. Forty-four poems. Quite scarce. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Samphire. Poems. Thomas Seltzer, New York 1922. First Edition, first state issue. 12mo. 53pp. Two-tone paper covered boards featuring an interconnected six-pointed star design. Paper title labels to spine and upper board. A little light wear to head and foot of spine and a small tear to the lower rear gutter. Some chafing to board edges. Endpapers partially browned. Very good in pictorial dust wrapper, dust marked and with just a fraction of loss to the head of the spine panel. Neat former owner inked to rear panel. Twenty poems, never issued separately in the UK. £90

KATHLEEN RAINE. The Oval Portrait and Other Poems. Enitharmon Press / Hamish Hamilton, London 1977.  First edition, this copy inscribed by the author: "To Rita, of whom the original of the Oval Portrait was deeply fond, With love also from Kathleen". A fine copy in publisher-clipped dust wrapper. £45

HERBERT READ. A World Within a War. Poems. Faber, London 1944. The first edition of this selection. 50pp. Cloth unevenly tanned and very slightly bumped at some extremities. Quite a bright copy in dusty, price-clipped dust wrapper. Seventeen poems, several of which appeared previously in Faber's Sesame series publication Thirty-Five Poems. £20

HERBERT READ. Moon's Farm and Poems Mostly Elegiac. Faber, London 1955. First edition. 77pp. Top edge lightly spotted, else in virtually fine state with triflingly nicked and faded dust wrapper, with Poetry Book Society wrap-around. Twenty poems plus the title piece, a Dialogue for Three Voices written for the BBC and first broadcast in January 1951. £20

SIEGFRIED SASSOON. Vigils. Poems. Heinemann 1935. First Trade Edition, following a very limited issue a year earlier. 35pp. Buckram, faded at spine and lightly marked in one or two places. A little light spotting throughout. A very crisp and bright copy but lacking the dust wrapper. Thirty-five poems. £20

SIEGFRIED SASSOON. Rhymed Ruminations. Poems. Faber, London 1940. The first trade and first casebound edition, following a limited edition of seventy-five copies. Slim 8vo. 52pp. Cloth lightly spotted with some damp markings to top edge of upper and lower boards encroaching to pastedowns. A tiny hint of spotting to endpapers and half-title, else an extremely crisp and bright copy internally, in very slightly marked and chafed dust wrapper, with a single short closed tear and some tanning to the spine panel. Forty-two poems. £30

FRANCIS SCARFE. Inscapes. Poems. The Fortune Press, London 1940. First edition. 63pp. With a caricature portrait frontispiece. Covers just a little spotted. A bright copy in slightly nicked and chafed dust wrapper. Forty poems. £25

GEORGE SEFERIS. The King of Asine and other poems. Translated from the Greek by Bernard Spencer, Nanos Valaoritis and Lawrence Durrell and with an introduction by Rex Warner. John Lehmann Ltd., London 1948. First edition. Slim 8vo. 82pp. Buckram. With a frontispiece portrait of the author by Ghika. Three small areas of discolouration to the upper board and just a hint of spotting to the top edge. A very good copy in Keith Vaughan-designed dust wrapper, just a little tanned at the margins of the rear panel and with some wear and internal reinforcement to the ends of the spine panel and one miniscule tear. Former owner bookplate to the front pastedown, almost entirely obscured by the wrapper flap. Thirty-nine poems, the first collection of Seferis’ work to be published in the UK. £60

JO SHAPCOTT. Electroplating the Baby. Poems. Bloodaxe Books, Newcastle upon Tyne 1988. First edition of Shapcott’s first book – this copy signed by the author on the title-page. Slim 8vo. 64pp. Card wrappers (never issued in casebound format). A tiny trace of chafing to head of rear wrapper, else in fine state. Sixty-two poems, winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. £35

JO SHAPCOTT. Of Mutability. Poems. Faber, London 2010. First edition – this copy signed by the author on the title page. Slim 8vo. 54pp. In fine state with fine dust wrapper. Forty-five poems, the author's first collection of verse for twelve years and winner of the Costa Book Award. £50

ELIZABETH SMART. A Bonus. Polytantric Press, London 1977. First edition. 8vo. 55pp. Card wrappers. Former owner gift inscription. In fine state, with original unprinted paper wrapper. Thirty-nine poems - Smart’s first work published in book form since her celebrated debut novel By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept which detailed her relationship with George Barker £10

STEPHEN SPENDER. Poems. Faber, London 1933. First edition of the author’s first substantial publication, superseded only by the highly fugitive 1929 privately printed collection Nine Experiments and his 1930 collection Twenty Poems which was limited to 135 copes. Slim 8vo. 57pp. Top edge and front endpaper lightly spotted. Tiny dealer late to front pastedown. An extremely crisp and bright copy in dust marked wrapper, tanned at spine panel, internally reinforced and a little chafed at head of spine panel. Laid-in is a short hand-written note from the author. Thirty-three poems. £125

STEPHEN SPENDER. The Generous Days. Faber, London 1971. First edition. Slim 8vo. 47pp. Top edge lightly spotted, else in fine state with fine dust wrapper. ‘Guido’ Morris-designed former owner bookplate to front pastedown. Forty-three poems. £10

NATHANIEL TARN. Where Babylon Ends. Poems. Cape Goliard, London 1968. First edition, one of a limited issue of 50 signed and numbered copies. Slim 8vo. Thirty leaves of unpaginated text. Paper-covered boards. With an illustrated double-spread title page, one drawing and two overlays.  Tip of one corner bumped. Very good indeed in price-clipped and fractionally edge worn dust wrapper. The author’s second collection of verse. £35

A.D.J.TESSIMOND. The Walls of Glass. Poems. Methuen, ‘The Gateway Poets’ series, London 1934. First edition of the author’s first book. Small 8vo. 39pp. Paper-covered boards with paper title label. Backstrip missing and with just a hint of very light spotting to the head of the half-title and title page. A very bright copy of a scarce book, lacking the uncommon dust wrapper. Thirty-nine poems, the first of three regularly published collections issued in the author’s lifetime. £35

D.M.THOMAS. Selected Poems. Secker & Warburg, London 1983. First Edition – this copy signed by the author on the half-title and dated the year of publication. 130pp. Largo 8vo. In fine state with dust wrapper, just lightly faded at spine panel. Fifty-three poems. £25

DYLAN THOMAS. Twenty-Five Poems. J.M.Dent, London 1944. Third reprint of the author’s second book (originally issued in 1936). 47pp. Paper-covered boards, lightly chafed at tips of corners and tanned at spine. A hint of browning to endpapers and former owner bookplate to front pastedown. A portrait of Thomas has been neatly pasted to the blank preliminary leaf resulting in a little off-set browning to the adjacent title page. A good, bright copy albeit printed on cheap wartime paper stock. No dust wrapper. £45

R.S.THOMAS. Judgement Day. A poem. The Poetry Book Society, London 1960. First edition, limited to 1,000 copies. Three pages of printed text, reproducing the author’s holograph poem, stapled into thin card wrappers featuring a two original designs by Ceri Richards, one to the upper and one to the lower wrapper. Staples rusting and with a single light superficial crease to one corner. Very good indeed. The third of a series of facsimile holograph poems published by the Poetry Book Shop, this R.S.Thomas issue preceded by Stephen Spender’s Inscriptions (1958) and Edmund Blunden’s A Hong Kong House (1959). £20

R.S.THOMAS. Tares. Poems. Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1961. First edition. 8vo. 48pp. Paper-covered boards. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly tanned, chafed and dust marked. Tiny dealer plate to front pastedown, obscured by wrapper flap. Thirty-six poems. £50

R.S.THOMAS. The Bread of Truth. Poems. Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1963. First edition. Slim 8vo. 48pp. Paper-covered boards. Top edge lightly spotted, spine ends gently bruised and with just a trace of spotting to margins of rear board. A very good copy in price-clipped and lightly fox spotted dust wrapper, tanned at spine panel and a little rubbed and chafed at top edge with just a sliver of loss to spine ends. Former owner gift inscription inked to front endpaper. Thirty-nine poems, the author’s seventh collection of verse. £30

RUTHVEN TODD. Until Now. Poems. Fortune Press, London [1942]. First edition. 51pp. Some edges of covers a little faded. Quite a bright copy in stained and slightly rubbed dust wrapper. Handsome former owner bookplate to front endpaper. Thirty-nine poems. £40

CHARLES TOMLINSON. American Scenes and other poems. Oxford University Press, London 1966. First edition. Slim 8vo. 62pp. Short creases to the corners of seven adjacent text leaves. A trace of dust marking to cloth and a number of tiny pin-pricks of spotting to occasional leaf margins, plus a single short production fault crease to the head of one leaf. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little rubbed at top edge, lightly tanned at spine panel, and nicked with two tiny fractions of loss to the head of the spine panel. Forty-eight poems, many of which were written during the year the author spent as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico. Relevant Poetry Book Society Bulletin laid-in, tanned and creased at several edges. £15

JOHN UPDIKE. Telephone Poles and Other Poems. Andre Deutsch 1964. First UK Edition. 83pp. A streak of partial browning to half-title and final text leaf. A very crisp and bright copy in slightly tanned dust wrapper. Dealer ink stamp to front pastedown (obscured by wrapper flap). Sixty-six poems, all previously having appeared in periodicals but hitherto unprinted in book-form. £15

JOHN WAIN. Wildtrack. A poem. Macmillan, London 1965. First edition. 50pp. Pictorial boards featuring a striking design by Victor Reinganum, repeated on the dust wrapper. A fine copy in virtually fine, price-clipped dust wrapper. £10

SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER. The Espalier. Poems. Dial Press, New York 1925. The first American edition (from UK sheets). 101pp. Handsome cloth-backed patterned boards, faded at some edges and a little bumped at tips of two corners. Paper spine label. Back cover slightly stained. A nice, bright copy in jacket (probably a later issue of the jacket as it lists two subsequent titles), slightly stained in one place and a little faded and chafed. £50

SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER. Time Importuned. Poems. Chatto & Windus, London 1928. First edition. Covers slightly faded at spine and some edges and spine-label nicked. No jacket. £40

VERNON WATKINS. The Lamp and the Veil. Faber, London 1945. First edition. 61pp. Small mark to front cover. A good, bright copy printed on good quality paperstock unlike so many poetry volumes of the war years. In slightly marked, nicked and creased dust wrapper. Three lengthy poems comprising Years in Dublin, Sea-Music for my Sister Travelling and The Broken Sea. £15

VERNON WATKINS. The Collected Poems of Vernon Watkins. Golgonooza Press, Ipswich 1986. The first trade edition of this collection of nearly four hundred poems, which comprises the seven collections published in Watkins’ lifetime, plus his three posthumous collections. 8vo. 495pp. Very good indeed in lightly edgeworn dust wrapper, somewhat sunned at spine panel. This copy from the library of David Gascoyne, with his neat bookplate to the front pastedown. £75

DOROTHY WELLESLEY. Desert Wells. Poems. Michael Joseph, London 1946. First Edition. 55pp. A little spotting to front endpaper else a very crisp and bright copy, albeit printed on cheap quality wartime paper. In slightly marked else very good dust wrapper. Forty-two poems. £10

PETER WHIGHAM. The Blue Winged Bee: Love Poems of the VIth Dalai Lama [and] The Ingathering of Love. Anvil Press Poetry, Middlesex 1969. First trade edition. 61pp + a select bibliography. With a frontispiece portrait of the author by Gary Brown. A very nice copy in slightly faded dust wrapper, with Poetry Book Society wrap-around band. £10

ANDREW YOUNG. Speak to the Earth. Poems. Jonathan Cape, London 1939. First edition. 48pp. A hint of browning to endpapers, else in fine state with slightly dusty and rubbed dust wrapper. Forty-two poems. £15