Flagons and Apples (Inscribed first edition)

Inscribed by Robinson Jeffers: "Dear Harry Mielke: This is pretty awful, but written so long ago that I don't feel responsible for it. If I live long enough, I might become equally light-hearted about more recent books. Cordially, Robinson Jeffers, Tor House, Carmel, California, October 11, 1944." A Near Fine copy, one of just five hundred. Publisher's quarter beige cloth over brown paper boards with printed paper label. Early bookseller's ink stamp to front free endpaper (Holmes Book Co., Los Angeles). Toning to lower free endpaper. Otherwise, a very appealing copy of Jeffers' first book with a fantastic inscription. Housed in a custom slipcase with chemise. Flagons and Apples was Robinson Jeffers' first book (and the only one published under his full name "John Robinson Jeffers"). Jeffers was twenty-five when he published this collection of thirty-three poems, including poems on mythological subjects ("To Helen" and "Lancelot to Guinevere") and several odes to the natural beauty of California, which foreshadow Jeffers' lifelong personal and artistic interest in the state. In fact, it was Jeffers' interest in California as an artistic subject that would cement his reputation, throughout the 1920s and 30s, as the state's resident poet-outdoorsman. Jeffers was in his late fifties when he wrote this humorous inscription reflecting on his debut collection. The "Tor House" in the inscription refers to Jeffers' famous clifftop house in Carmel, California, which he built himself. Tor House, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2024, is now a museum and cultural center that hosts tours, poetry readings, and an annual literary prize. The title of Flagons and Apples is drawn from the Song of Songs, which Jeffers quotes in the epigraph: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love." Near Fine.…