Where There is Nothing; Being Volume One of Plays for an Irish Theatre
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1903. Limited Edition. Cardboard covers. One of 100 copies, octavo size, 212 pp. Near fine / good. Item #CNIK19
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is acknowledged by many as "supreme among modern Irish poets". He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 (the first Irish to be so recognized), at which time he was "one of Dublin's great established figures, both in his own right and as the representative of the cultural renaissance which...had set in motion the Irish revolution and war of independence." Throughout his life, and throughout his poetry - which is still read and loved today - Yeats is recognized as supremely Irish, with his life and poetry reflective of his Irish identity.
This work, "Where There is Nothing", was initially published the preceding year, first in America, in an edition of "15 copies printed for copyright of which not over eight are now known" (n.b, from bibliography); then again in America, in a privately printed large paper edition; then in Great Britain (the first English (i.e., British) edition), and then this, the "First American Public Edition", this one of 100 copies of the "Large Paper Edition", printed on Japan paper "from the same types and having on verso of half-title (p. 2) the notice 'Of this book One Hundred Copies have been printed'..." (ibid).
___DESCRIPTION: Bound in thick cardboard covers with a parchment paper wrapping, brown lettering on front and spine, fore- and bottom edges uncut, limitation statement on page directly preceeding the title page, this stamped with no. "62" of the 100 copies issued, note that most signatures are unopened (and hence unread); octavo size (8 7/8" by 5 7/8"), pagination: [1-6] 7-212. With the original glassine wrapper.
___CONDITION: Volume near fine, the parchment wrap clean, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some areas of sunning to the spine and the top of the front joint, toning to the front endpapers with a small lighter area (presumably from something have been loosely laid in). The glassine wrapper good only, all component parts present and attached but with several chips including most of the two to three inches of the back panel, overall edgewear and sunning to the spine.
___CITATION: Wade no. 45, the Large Paper Edition, p. 61.
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Price: $700.00