Land of Unlikeness.

Cummington, Massachusetts: Cummington Press,, 1944. Fire-breathing righteousness First edition, first printing, of Lowell's first book of poems, one of 250 copies, notably uncommon in the original glassine, especially so in such fine condition. The poems were written between 1940 and 1944, while the author was studying in Louisiana and Tennessee. "Lowell at that time converted to Roman Catholicism, influenced by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Etienne Gilson, and other Catholic writers and philosophers, and impelled as well by his dark moods and what his wife termed 'fire-breathing righteousness'. This religious conversion strongly shaped the character of his first two books of poetry" (ANB). The Cummington Press was a small letterpress owned and operated by Harry Duncan (1916-1997), "considered the father of the post-World War II private-press movement" (Newsweek, 16 August 1982). The press's first book, Incident on the Bark Columbia, appeared in 1941, printed on a hand printing press at the Cummington School of the Arts; the press went on to publish editions of Tennessee Williams, Wallace Stevens, and Marianne Moore, typically with print runs of fewer than 500 copies, continuing to operate until Duncan's death in 1997. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine and front cover lettered in red, buff endpapers. With original glassine jacket. Housed in a custom purple quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. Woodcut to title page by Gustav Wolf printed in pale blue, text printed in black and red. Spine lightly rubbed, spot of wear to ends, ownership inscription to front free endpaper sometime erased, contents otherwise clean. A near-fine copy in fine glassine.