Letters from Rupert Brooke to his publisher 1911-1914. [Introduction by Geoffrey Keynes.]

New York: Octagon Books. A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975. First edition, printed in an edition of 400 copies for Edith Scott Lynch. The design is by Katy Homans at the Godine Press. The paper is Mohawk Superfine. The Meriden Gravure printed the offset facsimiles & the transcripts were printed letterpress by Maria Epes at the Godine Press. 1 vols. 8vo. Bound in quarter cream paper over blue cloth. In matching paper over boards slipcase. Very Fine. First edition, printed in an edition of 400 copies for Edith Scott Lynch. The design is by Katy Homans at the Godine Press. The paper is Mohawk Superfine. The Meriden Gravure printed the offset facsimiles & the transcripts were printed letterpress by Maria Epes at the Godine Press. 1 vols. 8vo. 23 letters (all but one unpublished) from Brooke to Frank Sidgwick, of Sidgwick and Jackson, publishers of Brooke's Poems (1911), his first book and the only one to appear during his lifetime. These were in the collection of Henry Lewis Batterman, Jr., and subsequently the property of his neice Edith Scott Lynch, who arranged with the Rupert Brooke Trustees for their publication. Sidgwick, like Brooke, was an Old Rugbeian, and it is possible that they made contact through their common friend, Lytton Strachey. This is a fascinating correspondence--at one point, Brooke hopes the printers "won't bind it all in pink before more's said. I want black. Is it possible?" An interesting point of contention between poet and publisher was the latter's use of the word "Libido" on a poem Brooke had wanted to title "Lust". Sales of Poems were disappointing at first, but by 1932 nearly 99,000 copies had been distributed. As Keynes notes, "The publication of these letters...provides welcome details of an important episode in English literary history."

A significant correspondence and a beautiful production.