NEW YEAR LETTER
by AUDEN, W. H.:
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Faber and Faber. 1941. First UK edition, first printing. First UK edition, first printing. Original grey cloth lettered in red to the spine, in dustwrapper. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. A little softened to spine tips with a small bump to upper corners. In the dustwrapper, rubbed to extremities, nicked and torn to spine ends (with a little loss), but uncommonly bright. Not price clipped (10s. 6d. net to the front flap). An attractive example. The second of Auden's books to be published following his move to America in 1939, 'New Year Letter' (published in the US as 'The Double Man') is, as the jacket has it "as difficult to describe as 'The Orators' [1930]." The title poem, an seventy-five page philosophical letter in regular rhyming tetrameter couplets, is followed by an extended commentary keyed to specific lines in the poem drawing upon an extraordinary range of sources, including Chekhov, Henry James, Kierkegaard, Kafka, Rimbaud, Kipling, Shakespeare, Goethe, Milton, Pascal (to name just ten). The book ends with a sequence of twenty sonnets ('The Quest') and an Epilogue. One of the great works of the war years, 'New Year Letter' might be seen as a transatlantic counterpart to that other mid-century philosophical (and Christian) sequence, Eliot's 'Four Quartets'. Published on 29 May, 1941 in an edition of 2000 copies (the US edition had been issued in March). (Bloomfield A24b). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Lucius Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 24129
- Title
- NEW YEAR LETTER
- Author
- AUDEN, W. H.:
- Book Condition
- Used
- Edition
- First UK edition, first printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- London: Faber and Faber. 1941
Terms of Sale
Lucius Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Lucius Books
Biblio member since 2015
York, North Yorkshire
About Lucius Books
Our shop is located in central York within a stones throw of the historic Micklegate Bar and walls. We are open seven days a week and carry a high quality stock specialising in but not limited to first editions, signed copies, bound sets and childrens / illustrated books and original art. Our opening times are 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sundays.Lucius Books is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) trade associations. If you are unable to make it to the shop then our stock is available to view on our website at www.luciusbooks.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....