Sampler, Poetry by Emily Dickinson
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2007. Smith, Kiki. Limited Edition. Hardcover. One of 426 copies, quarto size, 219 pp., signed by Kiki Smith. Fine. Item #23013013
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is considered one of America's greatest poets; although few of her poems were published during her life, her work was met with great acclaim upon the publication of the first collection of poems four years after her death. Her poetry is characterised by insightful observations of the world around her, with cleverly delicate rhyme and metre.
With a foreword by Andrew Hoyem telling the fascinating story of how Emily Dickinson's poems came to be published; when she died at the age of 55, "only ten of her more than seventeen hundred poems had been published, and these appearances were not initiated by her; her publication was arranged by others without her permission".
The artwork by Kiki Smith (b. 1954), award-winning artist who was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005; the art for this work is in the manner of samplers, with subtle patterns of cross-stitches and hatchings which become recognizable figures or mysterious forms related to the wondrous imagery in Emily Dickinson's poems (n.b., from the web site of the Arion Press).
___DESCRIPTION: Quarter bound in rust goatskin with gilt lettering, cloth boards with lettering in cross-stitch, fore- and bottom edges uncut, frontispiece an illustration by Kiki Smith of Emily Dickinson, additional artwork throughout the volume on almost every page; quarto size (11 1/4" by 7 1/2"), pagination: [1-4] 5-217 [1, blank], [1, colophon], limited edition of 400 numbered copies for sale plus 26 lettered copies, this no. 164, signed by the artist in pencil. The slipcase covered with cloth on the top, bottom and spine which matches the volume, paper spine label with black lettering, both sides covered in rust-coloured paper.
___CONDITION: Fine, as new - the book still has that "tight" feel and appears to never have been read; the boards clean and without wear, the leather spine smooth and supple, the corners straight and unrubbed, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings. The slipcase near fine, strong and sturdy, without splits or tears, clean with a few spots of wear, including one shallow depression on one of the side panels near the bottom.
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Price: $600.00