Between the Covers

Softcover. First edition. Octavo. 40pp. Stapled orange wrappers illustrated by C.H. Bickley[?]. Front wrapper pulled through the staples a bit, small nicks and tears in the upper corner of the last dozen leaves, a couple of tiny tears on wrappers, a sound good or better copy. Appearing among the dramatis personae of the "Chorus of Greek Captive Maidens" is one E. W. L. Pound (Ezra Pound).

The program notes that the play was produced by the Department of Greek of the University of Pennsylvania and the music by Professor Hugh Archibald Clarke, also of the University. The translation is attributed to "[Isaac] Flagg's edition of the College Series of Greek Authors". Whether or not Pound tried to insert himself into the language of the play is only speculative. Lee T. Pearcy, *In the Shadow of Aristophanes: The 1903 Iphigeneia in Tauris in Philadelphia,* notes the participation of Pound in this production as a chorus member, and he also notes the teasing that Pound had to endure from his friend and fellow poet, medical student William Carlos Williams.

In any event, a very early appearance of Pound's name in printed form. His bibliographer, Donald Gallup, notes only one work by him that precedes this date, an anonymous poem heavily influenced by James Whitcomb Reilly that appeared in a 1902 Jenkintown, Pennsylvania newspaper, which was not (nor do we think definitively) attributed to him until 1972. While comparing Pound's earliest writing to just the appearance of his name in print might justifiably be accused of comparing apples and oranges, it is undeniable that this is one of the earliest appearances of Pound's name in print. *OCLC* locates seven copies over two records.

Item #589973