Selected Poems

Publication: London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1947 Formatting: 8vo, pp. [xii], 67. Condition Report: Very Good. This copy presents exceptionally well in its original green cloth, which remains bright, clean, and tight, with sharply struck gilt lettering to the spine and front board. The binding is firm and square, displaying minimal shelf-wear and sharp corners. Internally, the text block is crisp and remarkably free from the heavy foxing or typical age-toning often found in post-war paper stock, offering entirely clean endpapers and unblemished, secure hinges. The original, unclipped dust jacket (priced 9s. net) is highly presentable, featuring only minor rubbing to the extremities, mild toning to the spine panel and flap folds, and a tiny, negligible nick to the upper edge of the front panel, ultimately maintaining its striking cream and red aesthetic without any significant chipping or tears. Catalogue Note: This is the First English Edition of John Crowe Ransom's Selected Poems, published in London by Eyre & Spottiswoode two years after the true first American edition by Knopf. It is presented in its original, unclipped dustwrapper featuring a delicate floral motif on the front panel. As a leading figure of the American New Criticism movement and a founding member of the Fugitive group, Ransom's poetic output was famously sparse but deeply influential. This edition collects the defining works of his career, omitting earlier pieces he deemed immature in favour of his most polished, mature verse. Finding this post-war UK printing with its fragile dustwrapper intact, unclipped, and largely free of the foxing that frequently plagues similar copies is distinctly uncommon on the open market. In Selected Poems, John Crowe Ransom distils a lifetime of poetic mastery into a slender, definitive volume that showcases his celebrated wit, formal precision, and profound philosophical inquiry. A pioneer of the New Criticism movement, Ransom's verse masterfully balances classical elegance with regional Southern sensibilities, exploring themes of mortality, love, and the dissonance between traditional myth and modern reality. This curated collection remains an essential text of 20th-century American poetry, offering readers a brilliant window into the mind of a writer who profoundly shaped the landscape of modern literary criticism and verse. …