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This is a magnificently clean, unread, first, signed, and limited edition of the book that won the author his second Pulitzer Prize in 1931. Collected Poems is the first collected edition of Frost s poems. This signed and limited edition preceded the trade edition by four weeks. The 1,000 copies of the limited edition were signed by Frost on the half-title and hand-numbered on the limitation page, this copy numbered "447". Unique in content, this collection based on Frost's first five books saw two poems printed for the first time ("The Last Word of a Bluebird" and "What Fifty Said") as well as addition of four poems previously published only in periodicals. The binding is tan heavy linen cloth with beveled edges, brown leather spine label, and gilt top edge, the contents printed on heavy, laid paper with untrimmed fore and bottom edges. The book was issued in a glassine jacket with laid paper flaps pasted to the glassine; these jackets understandably typically do not survive and, without them, the handsome linen binding proved prone to wear, soiling, and toning. This copy is an anomaly, lacking the glassine as usual but nonetheless in truly fine, unread condition. The linen cloth binding is square, clean, and bright with sharp corners, a fully intact spine label, and no appreciable shelf wear, soiling, or toning. The notably clean contents are unread, with uncut signatures throughout and, as would be expected, a crisp, unread feel. The endpapers show a touch of transfer browning from the pastedown glue and just two tiny instances of spotting. The top edge gilt remains bright with incidental dust and scuffs. The untrimmed fore and bottom edges are immaculate save for just a hint of age-toning. The lower rear pastedown features the small, printed bookseller s sticker of "THE HOLIDAY BOOKSHOP | 49 E 49th ST. NEW YORK". We find no other previous ownership marks. The binding is protected beneath a clear, removable, mylar cover.Iconic American poet Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), the quintessential poetic voice of New England, was actually born in San Francisco and first published in England. When Frost was eleven, his newly widowed mother moved east to Salem, New Hampshire, to resume a teaching career. There Frost swiftly found his poetic voice, infused by New England scenes and sensibilities. Promising as both a student and writer, Frost nonetheless dropped out of both Dartmouth and Harvard, supporting himself and a young family by teaching and farming. Ironically, it was a 1912 move to England with his wife and children "the place to be poor and to write poems" that finally catalyzed his recognition as a noteworthy American poet. The manuscript of A Boy s Will was completed in England and accepted for publication by David Nutt on 1 April 1913. A convocation of critical recognition, introduction to other writers, and creative energy supported the English publication of Frost s second book, North of Boston, in 1914, after which "Frost s reputation as a leading poet had been firmly established in England, and Henry Holt of New York had agreed to publish his books in America." Accolades met his return to America at the end of 1914 and by 1917 a move to Amherst "launched him on the twofold career he would lead for the rest of his life: teaching whatever "subjects" he pleased at a congenial college… and "barding around," his term for "saying" poems in a conversational performance." In 1924, New Hampshire won Frost the first of his eventual four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry. This book, Collected Poems, won him his second Pulitzer in 1931. He would win again in 1937 and 1943. Frost spent the final decade and a half of his life as "the most highly esteemed American poet of the twentieth century" with a host of academic and civic honors to his credit. Two years before his death he became the first poet to read in the program of a U.S. Presidential inauguration (Kennedy, January 1961). References: Crane A14; ANB.
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