POEMS - UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY, SIGNED
New York & Barnstable, MA: Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Crane Duplicating Service, Inc., 1970. First Edition. Item #8587
First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); photomechanically reproduced sheets, comb-bound into light blue printed covers, with publisher's typed label tape to lower front cover; [xvi],[1]-80,[2]pp. Signed by James Wright in black pen at upper margin of the preliminary leaf. Subtle toning to cover extremities, with some very faint foxing to text edges and upper margins; Very Good+ or better.
Proof copy of this collection, wherein Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Wright has selected and translated 31 poems by Hermann Hesse, all dealing with the single theme of homesickness. In his "Translator's Note," Wright says: "I suppose the word, like love, is simple enough at first glance. If somebody else is in love, love looks charmingly silly. If somebody else is homesick, we chuckle. The poor fellow hasn't grown up...That is what I think Hesse's poetry is about. He is homesick. But what is home? I do not know the answer, but I cherish Hesse because he at least knew how to ask the question." The proof state of the text is uncommon, particularly signed; during this period, Crane typically produced no more than a dozen or so copies. 8587.
Price: $550.00