modernisms

Modernisms
An attractively printed edition, the other poems being ‘Down by the Salley Gardens’,
‘Who Goes with Fergus’, ‘An Irish Airman Foresees his Death’, and ‘The Lake Isle of
Innisfree’.
127. Yeats (W.B.) The Wild Swans at Coole & other poems. Set by hand, printed
letterpress & presented with an original linocut by Mary Plunkett. Dublin:
Belgrave Private Press, 2015, 31/30 COPIES (from an edition of 50 copies) signed
by the printer, three-panel fold-out linocut printed in brown, colophon printed
in red, pp. [10], 8vo, original sewn plain card wrappers, dustjacket repeating
linocut, fine £45
An attractively printed edition, the other poems being ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of
Heaven’,‘When you are old’, ‘A Coat’, and ‘The White Birds’.
Inscribed by Zukofsky to his wife, and then to Herbert Read
128. Zukofsky (Louis) 55 Poems. Prairie City: The Press of James A. Decker, [1941,]
FIRST EDITION, title-page printed in black and red, pages lightly toned throughout,
pp. 126, [5], 8vo, original dark brown boards with paper label printed in red and
black to upper board, backstrip with paper label a little browned, light rubbing to
corners with slight softening at head of backstrip, top corners a little bumped and
edges toned, very good £700
Inscribed twice by the author on the flyleaf: the first to his wife, ‘To Celia, from Louis’
- peculiar insofar as the name has at some time been erased, causing some abrasion to
the paper, and then overwritten, with the same abrasion beneath the author’s name;
the second inscription is ‘For Herbert Read, the dedicated wishes me to re-dedicate.
Sincerely, Louis Zukofsky, 16 April 1951’. Read was at that time an editor at Routledge
& Kegan Paul, who were preparing to issue an English edition of Zukofsky’s ‘A Test of
Poetry’ in 1952. The latter inscription would seem to suggest that Celia - who was her
husband’s collaborator and muse - had requested that her husband make a gift of her
copy to Read.
An already scarce book, made all the more desirable by the chain of associations in its
inscriptions.
129. Zukofsky (Louis) A Test of Poetry. New York: The Objectivist Press, 1948, FIRST
EDITION, pp. [viii], 165, crown 8vo, original maroon cloth, lettered in gilt to upper
board and backstrip, some very faint spotting to top edge, dustjacket with mild
toning to backstrip panel and minor chipping to corners, the price on front flap
struck through in pencil, very good £500
An interesting presentation copy of this important work of the Objectivist movement,
inscribed on the flyleaf by the poet and his son ‘For Robert Erickson, from Paul
Zukofsky by Louis Zukofsky, Sept. 1, 1954’ - with each signing their respective name.
Erickson was an important American composer, with the junior Zukofsky a prominent
violinist - at this stage only eleven years of age, but with two years of performing
already behind him! The construction of the inscription allows for the ‘by’ to be
interpreted as referring to Zukofsky’s authorship of both the book and his son.
49