RIVERS AND MOUNTAINS - INSCRIBED TO LARRY RIVERS
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966. First Edition. Item #7412
First Printing, cloth issue, one of 1,000 copies. Octavo (21.5cm); beige cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine; dustjacket; [8],9-63,[1]pp. Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper two weeks after publication to artist and musician Larry Rivers, somewhat humorously, quoting a line from his poem "Into the Dusk-Charged Air" on p.17: "To Larry with love from J.A. / 3/12/66 / "The Mississippi is one of the world's longest rivers, like the Amazon." Light rubbing to spine ends, else very Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $3.50), gently spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn, with some mild dust-soil, and a very faint pen mark to front panel; Very Good+.
An early collection by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, containing twelve poems, "each developed from the beauty or ugliness of physical surroundings" (from front flap). Inscribed by Ashbery to his longtime friend and collaborator, tying his last name into the poem "Into the Dust-Charged Air," a poem about rivers, both in the U.S. and around the world. It was at a 1950 party thrown by Ashbery that Rivers met his partner and collaborator, the poet Frank O'Hara. This copy was inscribed to Rivers just three months prior to O'Hara's tragic death on Fire Island. A National Book Award nominee, and a tremendous New York School association. Kermani A10a.
Price: $1,850.00