Clearwater Books

JOHN COWPER POWYS. War and Culture. A Reply to Professor Münsterberg. G.Arnold Shaw, New York 1914. First edition, preceding the English edition. 8vo. 103pp. Top edge lightly dust soiled and the cloth and free endpapers fractionally marked in places. A very good copy. No dust wrapper called for. Powys’ essay was subsequently published in England some five months later under the title The Menace of German Culture. Thomas A4. £35

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Wood and Stone. A Romance. G.Arnold Shaw, New York, 1915. First edition, in Thomas’ ‘A’ state binding. 8vo. xiv + 722pp. The gilt spine lettering a little dulled. The top edge lightly marked and dust soiled, and with just a hint of very light wear to the cloth at two or three extremities. Free endpapers fractionally toned and spotted. A very good copy. The author’s first novel, with which 3,000 copies were printed. Thomas A6. £125

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Wood and Stone. A Romance. William Heinemann, London [1917]. First UK edition, an un-noted variant in Heinemann’s ‘Colonial Library’ series, bound in red cloth with black and blind-stamped lettering, borders and floral design – identical to the general Heinemann edition even down to the pagination misprint, but here the cloth and lettering colour varies, and with the text ‘Heinemann’s Colonial Library’ black-stamped to the base of the backstrip. xiv [sic], 722pp. Some fading to the backstrip cloth, and the boards very lightly marked in one or two places. The top edge a little dust soiled, and with some light spotting to the edges. A very good copy, lacking the  most uncommon dust wrapper. The author’s first novel, which was first printed in the US in 1915, with the English edition published by Heinemann two years later, printed from the US sheets but with a cancel half-title and title page. See Thomas A12 (who does not note this ‘Colonial Library’ issue). Most uncommon – the only such copy we have come across. £125

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Rodmoor. A Romance. G.Arnold Shaw, New York 1916. First edition, not issued in the UK for a further fifty-five years. This copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: “To my friend Sam Kramer from John Cowper Powys, April 1920”. 8vo. 460pp. Top edge lightly dust soiled, and with some fading to the backstrip lettering. A short closed tear to the cloth at the head of the backstrip.  Place-marker creases to some leaves and a short tear to the corner of one text leaf. Some occasional pencilled marks and highlights which could be erased if desired. Very good. Thomas A9. £175

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Rodmoor. A novel. G.Arnold Shaw, New York 1916. First edition. 8vo. 460pp. Handsome bookplate of noted Powys scholar and bibliographer Lloyd Emerson Siberell tipped to the front free endpaper. The spine lettering a little darkened, the backstrip ends gently rubbed, and with a small area of staining to the base of the backstrip and to the lower board. The title hinge reinforced with tape, and a little moisture waving to half a dozen preliminary leaves, A second small ownership label to the head of the front pastedown, with a little offsetting to the tip of the adjacent free endpaper. A good copy – nicely enhanced by the Siberell association. No dust wrapper. The author's second novel; not published in the UK until 1973. Thomas A9. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Rodmoor. A Romance. With a new two-page preface by G.Wilson Knight. Macdonald, London 1973. The first UK edition of the author's second novel, originally issued in the US in 1916. 8vo. 460pp. Publisher’s review slip laid-in. Edges very lightly spotted, and with a trace of bruising to the backstrip ends. A very good copy in dust wrapper, a little faded at the spine panel and with a touch of corresponding wear to the spine panel ends. See Thomas A9. £25

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Wolf Solent. A novel. Simon & Schuster, New York 1929. First edition, complete in two volumes and preceding the English edition by two months. 8vo. 966pp (over both volumes). Black cloth with green paper spine labels and gilt-stamped backstrip decoration, which is somewhat faded and defective. Publisher’s vibrant yellow top edge stain. Title pages printed in black and red. The original silk place markers absent, but still a very good set of Powys’ first significant commercial success, lacking the uncommon dust wrappers and slipcase. Thomas A19. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Wolf Solent. A novel. Jonathan Cape, London 1929. The first UK edition, preceded by the US edition which was issued some six weeks earlier. 8vo. 644pp. Publisher’s green top-edge stain. A touch of light spotting to edges, endpapers and occasional leaf margins, and with some browning to the half-title and the final text leaf. A nice crisp if slightly dusty copy. No dust wrapper. Former owner gift inscription inked to the front free endpaper, alongside a pasted photograph of the author of the inscription (Dr. H.L.Daiell, who had an occasional correspondence with Powys). Thomas A20. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Autobiography. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1934. First edition – preceding the US edition by one month. 8vo. 652pp + [ii] publisher’s advertisements. Portrait frontispiece. Title page printed in red and black. A touch of bruising to the backstrip ends, and the tips of two corners very gently bumped. The fore edge spotted and with some spotting to the title-page, to a dozen or so preliminary and concluding leaves, and to occasional margins. Miscellaneous circular indentation to the rear board. Former owner name and date (1942) inked to the front free endpaper. A good bright copy housed in a dust wrapper from the 1936 edition (the “First Cheap Edition”), which is somewhat rubbed, toned, chipped and marked with two small areas of internal reinforcement. Thomas A31. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Jobber Skald. A novel. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1935. The first English edition of Weymouth Sands, here re-title and considerably bowdlerised from the US text of a year earlier. 8vo. ix, 594pp + [ii] publisher’s advertisements. Publisher’s vibrant blue top edge stain. The cloth a little faded at the backstrip, with a tiny bump to the tip of one corner, a little partial toning to the free endpapers, and a light scattering of spotting to the fore edge. A very good copy in the most uncommon dust wrapper (red with cream panels, printed in black, as called for by Thomas), price-clipped and lightly rubbed and creased with several small areas of careful internal repair. The English edition of Powys’ previous novel, A Glastonbury Romance, resulted in a crippling libel suit, and John Lane was so determined to avoid a repeat of that turmoil that significant alterations were made to this text in order to strip it of all recognisable features. A full unedited version of Powys’ intended text did not appear in the UK until 1963. Thomas A33. £200

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Jobber Skald. A novel. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1935. The first English edition of Weymouth Sands, here re-titled and considerably bowdlerised from the US text of a year earlier. 8vo. 594pp + [ii] advertisements. Cloth faded at backstrip and somewhat mottled at upper and lower boards, yet still a very crisp and bright copy. No dust wrapper. The English edition of Powys’ previous novel, A Glastonbury Romance, resulted in a crippling libel suit. John Lane was so determined to avoid a repeat of that turmoil that significant alterations were made to this text in order to strip it of all recognisable features. A full unedited version of Powys’ intended text did not appear in the UK until 1963. Thomas A33. £15

JOHN COWPER POWYS. The Art of Happiness. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1935. The first UK edition, issued five months after the US edition but essentially identical bar the omission of a summary of chapters. 8vo. 226pp + [vi] publisher’s catalogue. Cloth very slightly marked, and with a little fading to the backstrip. Fore edge spotted and with some further quite light spotting throughout. A good bright copy. No dust wrapper. Thomas A34. £20

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Lucifer. A Poem. With engravings by Angus Miller Parker. Macdonald, London 1956. First edition, limited to 560 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #103). Tall 8vo. 157pp. Original quarter-morocco with cloth covered sides, lettered in gold at the spine and with a Miller Parker decoration gilt-stamped to the upper board. Fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. With a title page decoration and six handsome header illustrations by Agnus Miller Parker. The tips of the corners a little bumped, and with a minor indentation to the fore edge of the upper board. Top edge and free endpapers lightly spotted. A very good copy of Powys’ lengthy poem, finally appearing in print here fifty-one years after it was first written. Lacking the original unprinted acetate protector, but with a fresh sheet supplied. Thomas A54. £125

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Maiden Castle. A novel. With a prefatory note by Malcolm Elwin. Macdonald, London 1966. A new edition of Powys' celebrated novel, with a new four-page introduction by Malcolm Elwin specially written for this issue. 8vo. 496pp + [iv] publisher's advertisements at the rear. A virtually fine copy in slightly chafed and scraped dust wrapper. Thomas A61. £25

JOHN COWPER POWYS. The Inmates. A novel. Macdonald, London 1952. First edition. 8vo. xi, 318pp + [i] publisher’s advertisement. Edges spotted, with some toning to the free endpapers and some further spotting to half a dozen preliminary leaves. A nice bright copy. No dust wrapper.. Thomas A49. £15

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Up and Out. Two stories. Macdonald, London 1957. First edition. 8vo. 224pp. Edges spotted and some leaf margins a little marked and stained. Former owner name inked to the head of the front free endpaper. A good copy in nicked and soiled dust wrapper with several portions of edge loss and the rear flap detached and laid-in. His lengthy hitherto unprinted stories Up and Out: A Mystery-Tale and The Mountains of the Moon: A Lunar Love-Story. Thomas A56. £10

JOHN COWPER POWYS. A Selection of His Poems. Edited with an introduction by Kenneth Hopkins. Macdonald, London 1964. First edition. A presentation copy, inscribed by Phyllis Playter, the author’s companion for over forty years: “For Yvonne [indecipherable] to whom they should belong. From Phyllis Playter”. 8vo. 224pp. Portrait frontispiece. Edges and free endpapers lightly spotted. A very good copy in dust wrapper, lightly chafed in places with some nicking and fraying to the spine panel ends and to the upper edge. A six-page introduction precedes 173 poems Thomas A60. £50

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Three Fantasies. With an afterword by Glen Cavaliero. Carcanet Press Ltd., Manchester 1985. First edition. 8vo. 186pp. Top edge spotted. A very good copy in very lightly toned dust wrapper. Three stories, “juvenilia of John Cowper Powys’ old age”, all of which are hitherto unprinted. £10

LLEWELYN POWYS. Ebony and Ivory. With a preface by Theodore Dreiser. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York 1923. The second US edition, following the American Library Service issue of some months earlier (both American editions precede the UK edition). Alyse Gregory’s copy, with her pencilled signature to the head of the front free endpaper. 8vo. 223pp. With a striking unaccredited abstract wood-engraved frontispiece with tissue protector. A touch of very light wear to the spine ends and corner tips, and the cloth just fractionally faded at the backstrip. A little light spotting to a number of preliminary and concluding leaves, and a touch more sporadically throughout. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. Seventeen stories and sketches set in England and Africa. The author’s first solo publication, issued a year before he married Alyse Gregory (Gregory was at that time the editor of the periodical The Dial, and at least one of these stories had first appeared in those pages). A super association copy. Foss B1. £75

LLEWELYN POWYS. Ebony and Ivory. With a preface by Edward Shanks. Grant Richards, London 1923. The first English edition, later issue (in red cloth). 8vo. 229pp. Covers slightly stained at spine and a little chafed at some extremities. A reasonably good, crisp copy in worn and much reinforced dust wrapper. Some fox-spotting. Foss B1[b]. £35

LLEWELYN POWYS. Thirteen Worthies. Essays. With a preface by Van Wyck Brooks. Grant Richards Ltd., London 1924. The first UK edition, issued a year after the US edition. 8vo. 192pp. Publisher’s red top edge stain. Free endpapers lightly toned. A very good copy in the uncommon dust wrapper, lightly toned at the spine panel and with a tiny trace of edge-wear to a single extremity. A three-page preface precedes essays on Geoffrey Chaucer, Michel de Montaigne, Christopher Marlowe, Tom Coryat, Sir Thomas Urquhart, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Nicholas Culpeper, Beau Nash, John Woolman, Thomas Bewick, William Barnes, and Thomas Hardy. The author’s fourth book. Foss B2. £50

LLEWELYN POWYS. The Verdict of Bridlegoose. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York 1926. The correct first edition, this US issue preceding the English issue by a year. 8vo. ix, 204pp. Contemporary former owner name and date boldly inked to the head of the front free endpaper, and a tiny dealer plate to the base of the rear pastedown. An area of moisture marking to the head of the front and rear endpapers (only). A dozen or so preliminary leaves quite lightly spotted and some occasional pencilled underlining. Quite a nice crisp copy of Powys' assessment of the American literary scene. No dust wrapper. Foss A4. £25

LLEWELYN POWYS. Damnable Opinions. Watts & Co., London 1935. First edition. This copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: “May from Lulu 1935”, the recipient probably his friend and semi-regular correspondent the West Country poet May Chesshire (a selection of her letters to Powys was published in a limited edition in 1937). 8vo. xi, 116pp. Portrait frontispiece. The backstrip ends lightly chipped and with a small area of discolouration where the dust wrapper is defective. The binding a little tender at the half-title and at one other gathering. Free endpapers very lightly toned. A nice bright copy in poor dust wrapper: somewhat dusty, creased, soiled and torn, and chipped with several areas of edge-loss. Fifteen essays. Uncommon thus. Foss B6. £95

LLEWELYN POWYS. Dorset Essays. With forty photographs by Wyndham Goodden. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1935. First edition. A presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper: “A.F.Lochead [?] from Llewelyn Powys April 1937. To a native of Dorchester who knew Thomas Hardy and has seen William Barnes and has rowed on the Frome and swum in Weymouth Bay” followed by a four-line William Barnes quotation. 8vo. x, 212pp. The cloth a little soiled, rubbed and handled, with a small nick to the head of the backstrip. Some spotting to the edges and, quite lightly, throughout. A good if somewhat dusty and handled copy, in very slightly toned, rubbed and spotted dust wrapper. Thirty-one essays including The Grave of William Barnes, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, A Rector of Durweston and Armistice Day, 1934 . Foss B7. £150

LLEWELYN POWYS. The Twelve Months. Designed and with wood engravings by Robert Gibbings. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1936. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 100 numbered copies printed on handmade paper and signed by the author and artist (this being #42). Tall 8vo. 88pp. Green leather, gilt lettered at the spine and with gilt-stamped initials to the upper board. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Leather discoloured at the backstrip, as is invariably the case, and with some further discolouration to several margins of the upper and lower boards. Free endpapers and pastedowns lightly spotted. A very good copy, in excellent crisp state internally. No dust wrapper called-for, but lacking the slipcase. Twelve essays, one for each month of the year, all reproduced from the pages of the Daily Herald and beautifully enhanced with a frontispiece engraving, twelve delightful Gibbings chapter header engravings and twelve further tail pieces. Foss A15. £325

LLEWELYN POWYS. Love and Death. An Imaginary Autobiography. With an introduction by Alyse Gregory. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1939. First edition. 8vo. 303pp. Pasted to a blank preliminary leaf is a slip of paper bearing the following inscription: “To Rivers from Llewelyn with his love May Day 1939. Mock not the cobbler nor the clerk for his black thumbs, proverb”; the recipient probably Hamilton Rivers Pollock, a lifelong friend from his Cambridge days. Cloth very lightly spotted, and a little darkened and marked at the backstrip. A tiny tear to the head of the upper gutter. Binding just a little tender at one gathering. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. Foss A16. £100

T.F.POWYS. The Dewpond. A story. Elkin Mathews & Marrot, 'Woburn Books' series, London 1928. First edition, limited to 530 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #85). Slim 8vo. 30pp. Patterned paper-covered boards, the design repeated in miniature on the endpapers. Handset and printed by Robert MacLehose at the University Press, Glasgow on rag paper. Some partial toning to the free endpapers and the binding just a fraction tender at one gathering. A virtually fine copy in dust wrapper, a little faded at the spine panel. The second of the ‘Woburn Books’ series. The first appearance in print of this twenty-eight page story, written in the summer of 1926 and subsequently included in his collection The Bottle’s Path (1947). Riley A16. £35

T.F.POWYS. An Interpretation of Genesis. The Viking Press Inc., New York 1929. The first American edition, printed from the sheets of the English edition and limited to 260 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #236). 4to. 100pp. Cream parchment lettered and ruled in gold at the spine and upper board, with a blind stamped design of twelve squares and rectangles to the upper and lower boards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Parchment darkened at the backstrip and lightly soiled, faded and rubbed in places. A very good copy. Written in 1906 and originally privately printed in a limited edition of 100 copies a year later, Riley speculates that at least half of that print run was subsequently pulped. It was republished in 1929 by Chatto & Windus in a limited edition to 490 copies, with this noticeably smaller run produced for the US market. The English issue included a dust wrapper, but I am unaware of the existence of a jacket for this US edition, although there was a slipcase which is here absent. Riley A1[c]. £50

T.F.POWYS. Fables. Stories. With four drawings by Gilbert Spencer. Chatto & Windus, London 1929. The first English edition, limited to 750 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #729). A review copy, with the publisher’s review slip laid-in. Tall 8vo. 275pp. Full green buckram with bevelled edges and a gilt lettered and ruled leather spine label. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. The buckram a little faded at the backstrip and with just a trace of tanning to the free endpapers. A very good copy, lacking the plain dust wrapper. Nineteen stories, all here making their first appearance in print (this UK edition was preceded by the US trade edition, which appeared a month earlier). Nineteen stories, Riley A17. £50

T.F.POWYS. Mr. Weston’s Good Wine. A novel. Chatto & Windus, London 1940. A new edition, issued here in crown 8vo format for the first time, and with one of George Charlton’s drawings from the original 1927 limited edition reproduced on the dust wrapper. 316pp. The top edge dust soiled, a very light scattering of spotting to the fore edge, and just a trace of very light partial toning to the free endpapers. The binding a fraction tender at several gatherings. A nice bright copy in lightly toned, dust soiled and edge-worn dust wrapper, non-clipped but re-priced by the publisher. £30

T.F.POWYS. Bottle's Path and Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1946. First edition. 8vo. 227pp. Edges spotted, encroaching a fraction to occasional leaf margins, and with a touch more spotting to half a dozen preliminary leaves. A very good copy in lightly spotted, rubbed and dust marked dust wrapper. Eleven short stories, eight previously printed in periodicals or a standalone (mostly) limited edition books, with three more appearing in print here for the first time. Riley A32. £15

T.F.POWYS. Rosie Plum and Other Stories. With drawings and a handsome dust wrapper design by John Ward. Chatto & Windus, London 1966. First edition. 8vo. 198pp. With a title page decoration, eight full-page drawings and a further thirty-four illustrations in the text. Cloth a little mottled and top edge lightly dust marked yet in fine state internally, housed in the John Ward-designed dust wrapper, fractionally chafed at one or two extremities and just a little marked in places. A four-page foreword by Francis Powys precedes this posthumous collection of eighteen short stories, six of them hitherto unprinted. Riley A32. £20

RICHARD PERCIVAL GRAVES. The Powys Brothers. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1983. First edition. 8vo. xxi, 370pp. Illustrated with thirty black and white photographs. Some light toning to the endpapers and pastedowns. A very good copy in very good dust wrapper, lightly rubbed at the head of the spine panel. Bookseller and Powys-scholar Joan Stevens’ copy, with her name ticket to the base of the front free endpaper, and her pencilled notes covering the front endpaper and pastedown, and with further pencilled marginal highlights and occasional notes throughout. Five related newspaper clippings laid-in, alongside letters and postcards to Stevens from various Powys scholars and collectors including Griffin [Beale], Frank Kibblewhite and Margaret [Eaton], plus two signed typewritten letters from Richard Percival Graves ordering various items (Powys and Robert Graves) from her regular catalogues. £15