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William Cullen Bryant. Autograph manuscript signed ("William Cullen Bryant"), being a fair copy of his major poem "To A Wate... (Total: 2 )
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Description
"To a Waterfowl"
William Cullen Bryant. Autograph manuscript signed ("William
Cullen Bryant"), being a fair copy of his major poem "To A
Waterfowl." New York, 24 December 1850.2 pages, 4to (218 x 170 mm). Written in ink on rectos of a bifolium. Housed in a cloth folding case.
"The first lyric expression of the stern New England mind, and of its love of nature, breaking us away from the...bad taste which had heretofore served for American verse" (Grolier).
Bryant wrote the poem in July 1815, allegedly after seeing a bird in flight while walking from Cummington to Plainfield to look for a place to settle as a lawyer. Flying across the sunset, the duck seemed to Bryant as solitary a soul as himself, and he wrote the poem that evening. "To a Waterfowl" was first published in the North American Review in March 1818 (see below). It was later published in book form in his Poems (1821). The version here contains seven stanzas, as it appeared in the North American Review. Some versions contain eight stanzas (this draft omits the third stanza).
The poem begins:
"Whither, mid falling dew,
Where glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way."
Condition: Creased at folds, otherwise fine.
Provenance: Purchased from The 19th Century Shop, Baltimore, 2001.
[With]:
[William Cullen Bryant]. "To a Waterfowl," in The North American Review, Vol. 6, no. 18. Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, March 1818.
8vo (235 x 143mm). Original drab wrapper, with title in ink on upper cover, entirely uncut; cloth folding case.
Scarce first appearance in print of three of Bryant's poems, including one of his most famous, "To a Waterfowl," which appears on p. 383. This volume also includes two other of his poems "Translation of a Fragment of Simonides," and "To a Friend on his Marriage." VERY RARE: According to online auction records, prior to this copy when it sold in 2023, the last copy recorded at auction was in 1909. Not in BAL.
Condition: Wrappers with some chips and losses to spine panel. Some stains and spots internally.
Provenance: Bruce M. Lisman (his sale, Christie's New York, 16 June 2023, lot 231). From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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