SECTION A: Books written, co-written or translated by Robert Graves

A23 POEMS (1914–1926) 1927

a. First edition:

Collation: a2 b4 B–O8 P4 Q1 , 115 leaves.

p.[i] POEMS (1914–26); p.[ii] blank; p.[iii] title-page; p. [iv] printer’s notice; p.v NOTE; p.[vi] TO | N. AND L.; pp. vii–xi CONTENTS; p.xii quotation (7 ll.) from Skelton; p.[1] I | 1914–20; p.[2] blank; pp.3–43 text; p.[44] blank; p.[45] II | WAR 1915–19; p.[46] blank; pp.47–64 text; p.[65] III | Mainly 1920–23; p.[66] blank; pp.67–118 text; p.[119] IV | MAINLY 1923–25; p.[120] blank; pp. 121–178 text; p.[179] V | RECENT POEMS: 1925–26; p.[180] blank; pp.181–216 text; p.217 BIBLIOGRAPHY; p.[218] printer’s notice.

19.1 × 12.8 cm. Bulk: 1.8/2.3 cm. White laid paper watermarked ADELPHI; top edges only trimmed; fore-edges unopened. White wove endpapers. Bound in slick white cloth with black cobbled design; front has blue paper label: POEMS (1914–1926) | Robert Graves; back has blue paper label with publisher’s emblem; spine has blue paper label: POEMS | 1914 | to | 1926 | Robert | Graves | [rule] | Heinemann

Price: 7s. 6d. Number of copies: 1,000. Published 2 June 1927 in light blue dust-jacket printed in black.

Contents: Note – I: The Poet in the Nursery – In the Wilderness – In Spite – John Skelton – Strong Beer – A Frosty Night – The Troll’s Nosegay – A Song for Two Children – Dicky – Song: One Hard Look – True Johnny – Allie – Loving Henry – Brittle Bones – An English Wood – Henry and Mary – The Country Dance – The Rose and the Lily – Love without Hope – The Traveller’s Curse after Misdirection – Mirror, Mirror – What Did I Dream? – The Cupboard – The Beacon – Pot and Kettle – Neglectful Edward – Thunder at Night – Wild Strawberries – Vain and Careless – The Sewing Basket – ‘The General Elliott’ – A Lover Since Childhood – The Bedpost – Black Horse Lane – Apples and Water – The Finding of Love – II: 1919 – Over the Brazier – The Dead Fox Hunter – Dead Cow Farm – Corporal Stare – Goliath and David – Not Dead – The Last Post – Familiar Letter to Siegfried Sassoon – The Leveller – Escape – The Bough of Nonsense – The Legion – Two Fusiliers – To R N. – An Occasion – A Dedication of Three Hats – III: Ghost Raddled – The Stake – The Pier-Glass – Reproach – The Gnat – Down – Incubus – The Hills of May – The Coronation Murder: I and II – Lost Love – Return – Ancestors – Richard Roe and John Doe – Burrs and Brambles – Song of Contrariety – The Ridge-Top – Unicorn and White Doe – Sullen Moods – Children of Darkness – The Dialecticians – Old Wives’ Tales–Christmas Eve – The Lands of Whipperginny – The Witches’ Cauldron – The Snake and the Bull – A Fight to the Death – In Procession – A Crusader – The Turn of a Page – An Idyll of Old Age – A Valentine – The Poet’s Birth – The Lord Chamberlain Tells of a Famous Meeting – I am the Star of Morning – A Forced Music – Full Moon – IV: The Bowl and Rim – The Avengers – A History of Peace – Hemlock – Myrrhina – Twin Souls – Diplomatic Relations – The North Window – Attercop: the All-Wise Spider – Witches – Essay on Continuity – Knowledge of God – The Rainbow and the Sceptic – Alice – From Our Ghostly Enemy – The Figure-Head – Ovid in Defeat – To an Editor – The College Debate – A Letter from Wales – The Presence – The Clipped Stater – The Poetic State – Essay on Knowledge – The Corner Knot – Virgil the Sorcerer – To M. in India – V: The Marmosite’s Miscellany: with Notes – The Moment of Weakness – Pygmalion to Galatea – In Committee – A Letter to a Friend – This is Noon – The Time of Day – Blonde or Dark? – Boots and Bed – The Taint – Dumpling’s Address to Gourmets – Sorrow – The Nape of the Neck – A Visit to Stratford – Pure Death – The Cool Web – Bibliography

Note: I have examined a copy with the words “PRESENTATION COPY” embossed at the top right of the title-page.

A23b. Second English impression (1928):

Collation: a2 b4 B–O8 P4 Q2, 116 leaves.

Remainder differs from A23a as follows: p.[iv] has impression and printer’s notices; pp.[219]–[220] blank.

18.7 × 12.6 cm. Bulk: 1.9/2.4 cm. Paper and binding as A23a; labels are grey-blue with legends as A23a.

Price: 7s. 6d. Number of copies unknown. Published in June 1928.

A23c. American issue (1929):

POEMS | (1914–26) | By | ROBERT GRAVES | GARDEN CITY NEW YORK | DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY | 1929

Collation: [a]2-b4 B–O8 P4 Q2, 116 leaves.

Remainder differs from A23b as follows: p.[iv] has printing notice only.

Price: $2.50. Number of copies unknown. Published 13 September 1929 in cream laid dust-jacket printed in blue.

Notes: A23a–c were all printed by The Westminster Press, London; but A23a and A24 have ‘all’, A23b–c have ‘All’ at p. v, l. 14; and pp.v/[vi], xi/xii and 217/[218] register differently in A23b and A23c, though the material is the same. These differences all occur in preliminary or final matter.

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