A68 POEMS 1953 1953

a. First edition:

ROBERT GRAVES | POEMS | 1953 CASSELL & COMPANY LTD | [heavy rule] | [light rule] | LONDON

Collation: [1] –[5]4, 20 leaves.

p.[i] POEMS 1953; p.[ii] list of books by Graves; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] publisher’s, publication and printer’s notices; pp.v–vi CONTENTS; p.vii FOREWORD; p.[viii] blank; pp. l–30text; pp.[31]–[32] blank.

18.4 × 12.0 cm. Bulk: 0.3/0.7 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. White wove endpapers. Bound in sea-green cloth; front and back blank; spine stamped in gold, bottom to top: [light rule] [heavy rule] [light rule] CASSELL [four-pointed star] POEMS 1953 [four-pointed star] ROBERT GRAVES [light rule] [heavy rule] [light rule]

Price: 7s.6d. Number of copies: 1,777. Published 24 September 1953 in a cream dust-jacket printed in red.

Contents: Foreword – To Calliope – The Straw – The Foreboding – Cry Faugh! – Hercules at Nemea – Dialogue on the Headland – Lovers in Winter – Esau and Judith – The Mark – With the Gift of a Ring – Liadan and Curithir – The Sea Horse – The Devil at Berry Pomeroy – Reproach to Julia – Dethronement – Cat-goddesses – The Blue-fly – Rhea – The Hero – Marginal Warning – The Encounter – I’m Through with You for Ever – With Her Lips Only – The Blotted Copy-book – The Sacred Mission – From the Embassy – Sirocco at Deyá – Leaving the Rest Unsaid

A68b. Limited issue (1953):

Title-page as A68a.

Collation as A68a.

Remainder as A68a through p.30; p.[31] THIS EDITION ON HAND-MADE PAPER | IS LIMITED TO 250 COPIES FOR SALE, | NUMBERED 1 TO 250 AND SIGNED BY | THE AUTHOR | This is Number [number] | [signature of Graves]; p.[32] blank. Size, bulk and paper as A68a. Bound in bright green boards with white cloth spine stamped in gold, from middle to top, up spine: ROBERT GRAVES: POEMS 1953

Price: 15s. Number of copies: 260. Published 24 September 1953 in transparent parchment dust-jacket.