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297 x 210 mm. (11 5/8 x 9 1/4"). [17] leaves. Quarter vellum over vintage Japanese paper boards by Claudia Cohen, original glassine dust jacket. INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the front flyleaf "For Kurt and Laure-Ann, / my golden oldies-- / love, Charlie / Feb 10, 1996 / Bow Lake, N. H.", SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on limitation page. A sale notice from New Directions laid in at front. As new. This attractive privately printed and strictly limited edition of Charles Simic s poetry is inscribed by the author to his "golden oldies." Winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and U.S. Poet Laureate for 2007-08, Simic (1938-2023) wrote moving, surrealistic poetry often based on his own experiences, particularly his traumatic childhood in what was then Yugoslavia. As the title suggests, the present collection of 24 poems touches on his experiences as a refugee, but it also touches on a variety of other everyday topics, in Simic's characteristically wry yet dreamy style. These poems were set in Joanna Monotype by Michael and Winifred Bixler and printed at the Grenfell Press, which was founded by Leslie Miller and focuses on high-quality hand press printing. The present volume is no exception, featuring sharply impressed type on creamy Arches paper. As the friendly inscription indicates, our copy is from the collection of Laure-Anne Bosselaar (b. 1943) and her husband Kurt Brown (1944-2013). Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, and editor who has published numerous works of poetry in multiple languages, including five collections of her own works. She has received various prizes and recognitions (Pushcart, Isabella Gardner, Breadloaf) and was named Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara in 2019. Sometimes publishing jointly with Bosselaar, Brown was also a prolific poet and editor of anthologies, as well as the founder and first director of the Aspen Writer's Conference, playing a pivotal role in shaping its early vision and establishing Aspen as a literary center. It was through the Aspen Writer's Conference that Bosselaar and Brown became friends with Simic, when Brown invited Simic to speak at the conference in the early 1990s. Bosselaar, reminiscing on a friendship of over two decades, wrote that "Charlie (as he was known by his friends) and Kurt had a great friendship, and shared a common love for wine & poetry--so, often, the Simics would come to our house, and we d have a 'good bottle' or two around a dinner I'd cook for them.".
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