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Robert Frost. North of Boston....
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$10,625.00
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Description
Robert Frost. North of Boston. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915.8vo. Publisher's dark gray-blue cloth, spine and front board stamped in gilt. Housed in a custom quarter blue morocco folding case.
First American edition (the first edition printed in America), second issue (with "Third edition, 1915" on copyright page). PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR WITH A COMPLETE 16-LINE POEM on the front free endpaper: "For William H French / Neither Out Far nor In Deep / The people along the sand / All turn and look one way. / They turn their back on the land, / They look at the sea all day. / As long as it takes to pass / A ship keeps raising its hull; / The wetter ground like glass / Reflects a standing gull. / Some say the land has more; / But wherever the truth may be -- / The water comes ashore / And the people look at the sea. / They cannot look out far; / They cannot look in deep. / But when was that ever a bar / To any watch they keep? Robert Frost."
"Neither Out Far Nor in Deep" was first printed in the Yale Review in the Spring of 1934. It was used as the Christmas poem for 1935 (Crane B3) and first appeared in book form in A Further Range in 1936. The version of the poem penned here differs from that of the first separate edition. In the first separate edition (the 1935 Christmas Greeting), the first line of the third stanza reads, "the land may vary more;" the present inscription is perhaps more indistinct and reads, "Some say the land has more." Another notable difference between the present inscription and the first separate appearance is the punctuation in the final line of the poem. In the 1935 Christmas Greeting, the poem ends with a period; in the present inscription, the poem ends with a question mark. Subsequent printings seem to conclude the poem with the question mark.
Condition: Light sunning to cloth; some edgewear; spine ends pushed and starting to fray; a few scratches to cloth; front hinge starting. Text somewhat toned, small rust stain from a paperclip to pp. 12-13; offsetting from something laid-in (no long present) to pp. 76-77.
References: See Crane A3.2 (for the first American edition [the first edition printed in America] with "Second edition, 1915" on copyright page); see Crane B3 for the first separate edition of the poem "Neither Out Far Nor Deep;' see also Crane E19 for the first printing of "Neither Out Far Nor in Deep" in the Yale Review, Spring 1934.
Provenance: William H. French (presentation inscription); purchased from James Cummins Bookseller, New York, in 2006. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 December 11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part II, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6300 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2024
11th
Wednesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 6
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