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. Visions and Revisions. A Book of Literary Devotions. G.Arnold Shaw, New York 1915. First edition. This copy signed by the author on the front free endpaper, his signature accompanied by a small pasted portrait of Powys, above which is the neat signature of a former owner. 8vo. 298pp + [i] publisher’s announcement. Cloth-backed paper-covered boards. A tiny enclosed tear to the backstrip cloth. The top edge lightly spotted and dust soiled, and with a scattering of quite light further spotting to the endpapers and pastedowns. Very good, a remarkably well preserved copy in dust wrapper, a little dust soiled, somewhat tanned at the spine panel with three tiny areas of enclosed loss, and several further fractions of loss from the head of the spine panel. A thirteen-page preface precedes seventeen essays (Rabelais, Dante, Shakespeare, Dickens, Goethe &c), plus a six-page conclusion. Thomas A5. £200

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. 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. Samphire. Poems. Thomas Seltzer, New York 1922. First edition in the first issue binding of two-tone paper covered boards with an interconnected six-pointed star design. 12mo. 53pp. Paper title labels to spine and upper board. A little light wear to the head and foot of the backstrip and a small tear to the lower rear gutter. Some chafing to the 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. Former owner name neatly inked to rear panel. Twenty poems, never issued separately in the UK. Thomas A14. £90

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. The Meaning of Culture. Jonathan cape, London 1930. First UK edition, issued six-months after the US edition and with a completely re-written introduction. 8vo. 319pp. Top edge dust marked, back strip lightly faded and spine ends just a little rubbed. Endpapers and half-title lightly browned and spotted. Embossed former dealer stamp to the head of the front free endpaper. Quite a nice, crisp copy. No dust wrapper. Thomas A21[b]. £20

JOHN COWPER POWYS. The Owl, The Duck and - Miss Rowe! Miss Rowe! The Black Archer Press, Chicago 1930. First edition – limited to 250 numbered copies (this #139), each one signed by the author at the base of the frontispiece. 8vo. 60pp. Parchment boards. A little uneven darkening to backstrip and board edges, and just a touch of chafing to the head of the spine. A very crisp copy, lacking the rarely seen decorated glassine dust wrapper and presentation box. Former owner name plate to the head of the front pastedown. The only published Powys short story, not printed in the UK until the Village Press paperback issue of 1975. Most uncommon. Thomas A22. £200

JOHN COWPER POWYS. A Glastonbury Romance. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1933. First UK edition, published a year after the US issue. Large 8vo. 1174pp + ii advertisements. A slip of paper bearing the author’s signature and his inked New York address pasted to the title page. A hint of spotting to the endpapers and one or two preliminary leaves, and a lengthy but quite light crease to the front free endpaper and half-title. Cloth a little discoloured at spine ends. A bright if slightly dusty copy in dust soiled dust wrapper, with several fairly small portions of edge loss. Thomas A28. £250

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Weymouth Sands. A novel. Simon & Schuster, New York 1934. First edition, preceding the considerably edited English issue by a year. 8vo. 579pp + [i] publisher’s advertisement. Grey smooth-weave cloth, ornately ruled in gold at the spine with a gilt-lettered red paper spine label and the publisher’s red top edge stain. A little light wear and a small nick to the cloth to the backstrip ends. A miniscule area of surface abrasion to the spine label. The top edge very lightly dust soiled. Some light toning to the free endpapers and three small numerals in indelible pink pencil to the head of the rear pastedown. A very good copy. No dust wrapper. The third of his Wessex novels. Uncommon. Thomas A29. £95

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-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. Owen Glendower. An Historical Novel. Simon & Schuster, New York [1941]. First edition, complete in two volumes. A presentation set, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper of the first volume to his close friend and Corwen neighbour: “Evan Roberts, with affectionate Admiration from his grateful friend John Cowper Powys, 7 Cae Coed, Corwen April 1st 1941”. Pasted to the front pastedown is a newspaper clipping of a poem by Powys composed for Roberts sixty-fifth birthday. The front free endpaper of the second volume contains Roberts’ neat ownership inscription, and his embossed address stamp appears on both free endpapers.  8vo. xxvi [i.e. xxviii], 436pp and viii, [504pp]. The cloth at the backstrips very slightly faded, and each displaying Evan Roberts pasted initials. A very good set. No dust wrappers called for, but lacking the thin cardboard presentation box. 5,250 copies were printed. This US edition, copyrighted 1940 but in fact published in January 1941, precedes the UK edition by a year. Thomas A41. £200

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Rabelais. His Life, the Story Told by Him. Selections therefrom here newly translated, and an interpretation of his Genius and his Religion. The Bodley Head, London 1948. First edition. 8vo. 424pp. The backstrip cloth spotted, and the board margins a little discoloured. Free endpapers partially browned and very fox-spotted, and with a little insect nibbling to the fore edge margin (only) of the rear free endpaper. A good copy, the text itself nice and crisp, in the P.Vinten-designed dust wrapper, a little rubbed, nicked and creased with some internal reinforcement. Thomas A47. £15

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

JOHN COWPER POWYS. The Diary of John Cowper Powys 1929 [and] 1930 [and] 1931. Complete in three volumes. Jeffrey Kwintner, London / Greymitre Books Ltd., London / Cecil Woolf, London 1990, 1987 & 1998. Individual volumes as follows: The Diary of John Cowper Powys for 1929. Edited with an introduction by Anthony Head. Cecil Woolf, London 1998. First edition. 8vo. 170pp. Cloth just a fraction soiled, and the edges quite lightly spotted. A very good copy in dust wrapper, fine but for a touch of internal marking. The Diary of John Cowper Powys for 1930. Edited by Frederick Davies. Greymitre Books Ltd., London 1987. First edition. 8vo. 216pp. Edges and endpapers spotted. Very good in lightly spotted and faded dust wrapper. The Diary of John Cowper Powys, 1931. Jeffrey Kwintner, London 1990. First edition. 8vo. 324pp Edges spotted and the boards lightly marked in one or two places. A very good copy in lightly chafed and rubbed dust wrapper. £75

JOHN COWPER POWYS. Maiden Castle. A novel. With an introduction by Ian Hughes. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1990. The first full authoritative edition, reinstating the cuts made by Simon & Schuster in 1936, and thereby increasing the length of the novel by circa one-fifth. 8vo. xvi, 484pp. Edges spotted, encroaching a fraction to the margins of the text leaves, and with a little further spotting to half a dozen preliminary and concluding leaves. A nice bright copy in fractionally soiled dust wrapper. £35

LLEWELYN POWYS AND JOHN COWPER POWYS. Confessions of Two Brothers. The Manas Press, Rochester 1916. First edition – not issued in the UK for over fifty years. 8vo. 265pp. Pebbled cloth with paper spine and title labels, the former a little tanned and chipped. Cloth a little rubbed at the extremities. Rear hinge just a fraction tender. Tiny dealer plate to the base of the rear pastedown and the faint ghost of partially erased marginal lines. A nice crisp copy. No dust wrapper. Llewelyn Powys’ first book – his name is misspelt throughout as ‘Llewellyn’: his Swiss sanatorium diaries, to which John Cowper Powys has supplemented a 166-page essay to enable his younger brother’s first foray into print. Foss A1 / Thomas B1. £25

LLEWELYN POWYS (interest). Padraic Colum.  Wild Earth and Other Poems. The Macmillan Company, New York 1922. Reprint. This copy inscribed by Llewelyn Powys in circa May 1925 to his sister-in-law Phyllis Playter: “For Phyllis, the delicate one, the revered one from Lulu the broadmouthed. With love and appreciation”, followed by a two-line quotation from Colum’s poem An Old Woman of the Roads, included in this collection. 8vo. 71pp. The backstrip cloth darkened and frayed at the ends, and with some soiling to the rear board. A touch of occasional light marginal fox spotting. A nice bright copy. No dust wrapper. Forty-two poems. Laid-in is a four-sided handwritten letter from Phyllis Playter to her sister-in-law Katie (i.e. Philippa Powys), dated 1961 in which she re-gifts the Colum collection (“I am sending you the little volume of Padraic Colum’s poems Lulu gave me when he and Alyse left Patchen Place – that I have never parted with”). £35

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. 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. Impassioned Clay. With a magnificent tipped-in frontispiece woodcut by Lynd Ward. Longmans, Green & Co. New York 1931. The correct first edition, printed in the US and preceding the English edition. 8vo. 120pp. Half-cloth with paper covered sides and with a paper title label inset to the upper board. Boards a little marked, rubbed and chafed, and with an area of moisture marking to the fore edge, encroaching just a fraction to the leaf margins. Quite a nice, bright copy. No dust wrapper. Foss A11. £25

LLEWELYN POWYS. Earth Memories. Essays. With woodcuts by Gertrude Mary Powys. John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd., London 1934. First edition. 8vo. viii, 239pp. With twenty-three chapter header woodcuts. Edges spotted and with further marginal spotting throughout. A fairly minor slant to the binding, which is also a fraction tender at two gatherings.  Former owner name inked to the front free endpaper. A good copy in the handsome pictorial dust wrapper, lightly toned at the spine panel, with a touch of rubbing and spotting, a single short closed edge-tear and a small area of internal reinforcement. Twenty-three essays. Foss B5. £35

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. 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. Glory of Life. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1938. First trade edition. Slim 8vo. 44pp. Tissue-protected Pieter Bruegel-reproduction frontispiece. The head of the boards lightly spotted and with some toning to the endpapers and pastedowns. Binding just a little tender at several gatherings. A nice crisp copy in quite toned, rubbed and spotted dust wrapper. Foss A14[b]. £15

LLEWELYN POWYS. Love and Death. An Imaginary Autobiography. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London 1939. First edition. 8vo. 303pp. Publisher's slightly faded orange stain to top-edge, others rough-trimmed. Some light occasional fox-spotting and a shallow three-inch tear to front hinge, yet binding perfectly sound. A very good copy in dust wrapper, tanned, spotted and dust marked with several short tears and half a dozen tiny areas of loss to edges. Laid-in is a hand written letter dated June 1939 (just after the publication of Love and Death) and an undated postcard, both from the author to Angela du Maurier, sister of Daphne: "I though it was so good of you to write me a letter about Love and Death. Yours was the first communication from someone personally unknown to me . and for this reason I read it with particular gratitude. The reviews the book has received from the [indecipherable] London critics have taught one to feel how far removed any writing and [indecipherable] of life are from the prevailing mood. What we think lovely, they jeer at. The book has as yet not sold 500 copies but I still hope for it a long life and for this reason I value your letter very highly." Foss A16. £200

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. 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. The White Paternoster and Other Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1930. The deluxe issue of the first edition, limited to 310 numbered copies, signed by the author (this being #900). 8vo. viii, 278pp. Quarter green buckram with patterned paper sides. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With an unaccredited title page decoration by Ray Garnett. The buckram lightly faded at the backstrip, and the board margins a little spotted and darkened. A very good copy. No dust wrapper called-for. Twenty-six stories. Riley A21. £75

T.F.POWYS. Uriah on the Hill. A story. The Minority Press, Cambridge 1930. The deluxe issue of the first edition, and the only casebound issue, limited to 85 numbered copies, signed by the author (this copy signed but not numbered). Royal 8vo. 23pp. Buckram. The single gathering nearly detached from the buckram covers, hanging to two threads, yet a lovely bright copy. The first appearance in print of this eighteen-page story. Riley A22. £65

T.F.POWYS. The Two Thieves. Stories. Chatto & Windus, London 1932. First edition. 8vo. 295pp. The cloth at the backstrip darkened and with just a little further darkening to the board margins. The publisher’s top edge stain faded. Free endpapers and two or three preliminary leaves lightly spotted. A very good copy in dust wrapper, really quite tanned at the spine panel with a single tiny enclosed area of loss, and a little light dust soiling, rubbing and wear, with two tiny closed tears and a small area of internal reinforcement. Three lengthy stories: In Good Earth, God and The Two Thieves. A fourth story, The Sixpenny Strumpet, was written for inclusion too, but it was deemed too shocking for post-Victorian sensibilities and remained unprinted until 1997. 2,600 copies were printed, yet it remains quite uncommon, and considerably more so with the dust wrapper. Riley A28. £40