THE DONKEY'S EARS (First edition - first impression - PBO)

First impression of the first collected edition, with the full number-string sequence: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the printer's page. Published as a paperback original (PBO). Published as a paperback original (PBO). ***Near fine in matt-finish card covers. The covers are clean and unmarked. No creases or tears. No reading lean to the binding. No reading creases to the spine. Spine tight. Spine colour unfaded. Internally also near fine, with no inscriptions. Pages clean - paper stock lightly tanned. No creases or tears. ***198mm x 126mm. 176 pages. ***'Douglas Eaglesham Dunn, OBE (born 23 October 1942) is a Scottish poet, academic, and critic. He is Professor of English and Director of St Andrew's Scottish Studies Institute at St Andrew's University.' (Wiki) ***'E. S. Politovsky was the Flag engineer on the flagship Kniaz Suvorov, which led a Russian fleet around the world to its destruction at the battle of Tsushima in May 1905. Sometimes known as The Trafalgar of the East, it was the biggest naval gun-battle in history. In The Donkey's Ears, Douglas Dunn presents us with Politovsky's secret written verse-letters to his wife, Sophie. It touches on many places, from the famous Dogger Bank Incident, when the Russian Imperial Navy fired on the 'Gamecock' Hull trawler fleet, to Vigo Bay, Tangiers, Dakar, Gabon, German South-West Africa, Madagascar, and French Indo-China. Through the squalor, frustrations and loneliness of life aboard a battleship, Douglas Dunn gives us a portrait of a man caught in the destinies of progress, history, and geography. From the vantage-point of a new millennium, it is a poem whose imaginative sweep stretches both forwards and backwards in time.' (Quote taken from the back cover) ***First impression of the true first edition, published as a PBO, in near fine condition. Uncommon. . ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.