OUT OF DANGER (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). Poetry Book Society choice. ***Near fine in glossy 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. ***104 pages including a page of notes at the back of the book. ***216mm x 134mm. ***'James Martin Fenton FRSL FRSA (born 25 April 1949) is an English poet, journalist and literary critic. He is a former Oxford Professor of Poetry. In his first year at university, Fenton won the Newdigate Prize for his sonnet sequence "Our Western Furniture". Later published by Fuller's Sycamore Press, it largely concerns the cultural collision in the 19th century between the United States and Japan. It displays in embryo many of the characteristics that define Fenton's later work: technical mastery combined with a fascination with issues that arise from the Western interaction with other cultures. "Our Western Furniture" was followed by "Exempla", a poetry sequence later published in "The Memory of War". The poem is notable for its frequent use of unfamiliar words, as well as commonplace words employed in an unfamiliar manner. While studying at Oxford, Fenton became a close friend of Christopher Hitchens, who praised Fenton's extraordinary talent, stating that he believed him to be the greatest poet of his generation. His first collection, "Terminal Moraine" (1972) won a Gregory Award. With the proceeds he traveled to East Asia, where he wrote of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and the end of the Lon Nol regime in Cambodia, which presaged the rise of Pol Pot. The poems featured in his collection "The Memory of War" (1982) ensured his reputation as one of the greatest war poets of his time. (Wiki) *** 'Former Vietnam war reporter and correspondent for the Independent in South-East Asia, Fenton is a traveller-poet in the tradition of W.H. Auden, the poet to whom he is most frequently compared.' ***'"Out of Danger" is James Fenton's eagerly awaited new collection of poetry, the first to appear since his acclaimed "The Memory of War and Children in Exile" a decade ago'. ***'Each poem conjures a world, and all of them bear out the opinion of Peter Porter, writing in The Observer, who called Fenton "the most talented poet of his generation"'. (Quotes taken from the back cover) ***First impression of this poetry collection by James Fenton, in near fine condition. ***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.…