OMMATEUM, WITH DOXOLOGY
Philadelphia: Dorrance & Company, 1955. First Edition. Item #6536
First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); salmon-colored cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [ii],[6],7-49,[1]pp. Fine in a Fine, unclipped dustjacket (priced $2.00), housed in a custom clamshell case.
A pristine copy of the National Book Award-winning poet's first book, "dramatic presentations of thought and emotion, as in themes of the fear of the loss of identity, the appreciation of transient beauty, the conflict between the individual and the group, the chaotic particle in the classical field, the creation of false gods to serve real human needs" (from front flap). Ommateum was reportedly published in a run of 300 copies by vanity press publisher Dorrance; according to a 1996 Paris Review article, just 16 copies were sold in the five years after publication, with two-thirds of the run destroyed.
Price: $3,500.00