Twelve Poems

London: Medici Society, 1926.

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Hardcover. First edition. Cloth and papercovered boards, without dustwrapper, as issued. Covers lightly tanned and foxed, endpapers tanned, with some scattered foxing on both pastedowns, a very good, otherwise bright copy. Copy number 6 of 130 numbered copies (of which 100 were for sale). (N.B. Without the stamped facsimile of Wharton's signature on p.ii, as per Garrison A40. The bibliography notes only copies with a facsimile signature on p.ii, possibly indicating that this is one of the 30 copies retained by Wharton for presentation.

Warmly Inscribed on the front fly to longtime friends and collaborators Paul and Minnie Bourget: "To Paul & Minnie, with love and long memories, from Edith. Christmas, 1926." Wharton's friendship with the French author and critic Paul Bourget and his American-born wife Minnie began in 1893 and continued for decades. The Bourgets eased Wharton's transition into the salons of French social and literary life. During the summer of 1899, Edith Wharton and her husband toured northern Italy and Switzerland with the Bourgets, and
Wharton dedicated *The Valley of Decision* to them: "To my friends Paul and Minnie Bourget in remembrance of Italian days together." Paul Bourget translated Wharton's novel *House of Mirth* into French, and contributed to *Book of the Homeless*, edited by Wharton in 1916. Minnie Bourget collaborated with Edith Wharton on the translation of a short story, "The Muse's Tragedy" (cf. Garrison AA2, Note two).

Wharton was self-conscious about her poetry, publishing only two volumes, both in small numbers. This is easily one of the rarest of her books, and with a wonderful association.


Item #498664

Status: On Hold

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Item #498664 Twelve Poems. Edith WHARTON.
Twelve Poems

Edith Wharton
birth name: Edith Newbold Jones
born: 1/24/1862
died: 8/11/1937
nationality: USA

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Biography

American author best known for her stories and novels about the upper-class society into which she was born. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literaturemore

Collecting tips:

Her first book, Verses (published by her parents when she was 16 in 1878) is a great rarity. If you find one, call me up, so we can begin negotiating about the location of the new house I'll be buying for you. However, if you are going to wait to find a copy before you find a place to live, you might as well pay for it yourself, as they don't turn up very often. She has three avidly sought after novels: Ethan Frome (1911), The House of Mirth (1905), and The Age of Innocence (1920), all of which will set you back if you have to have them in jacket (yes, they all came with jackets originally). Her first regularly published book, The Decoration of Houses (1897, co-written with architect Ogden Codman, Jr.) is something of a classic in its field, and the easily worn marbled paper-covered boards make it difficult to find in reasonably fine condition, although copies in middling condition turn up occasionally. Italian Villas and Their Gardens (1904) is prized not only by Wharton collectors, but also by fans of Maxfield Parrish, who contributed the illustrations. The book was reprinted several times, and fine copies of the first edition are getting scarce, but are still occasionally obtainable for a not-too-unreasonable price.

Email us to request a printed copy of our catalog of Edith Wharton Rare Books and First Editions (or download it via the link as a 3.51 MB pdf file).

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