Prufrock and Other Observations
London: The Egoist Ltd., 1917.
First edition. 40 pp. Bound in publisher's stiff wraps printed in black. From the library of Modernist poet and publisher John Rodker, with laid in typed correspondence between Rodker's daughter Joan and a British bookseller regarding the sale of some of Rodker's books, with an attached list including Prufrock. Rodker was a friend of Eliot's, and is best known for founding the Ovid Press. Though this endeavor was short-lived (1918-20), its roster boasted a who's who of Modernist luminaries, publishing hand-printed works by Eliot, Ezra Pound, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Wyndham Lewis, Edward Wadsworth, Clive Bell and Roger Fry. In 1922, Rodker worked with The Egoist Press to publish the first London edition (or, more precisely, the second impression of the first edition) of James Joyce's Ulysses. Very Good. Covers toned, with light wear at spine ends and creasing to the rear cover. Small smudge to verso of title page. Hinge exposed at page 24. Light crease and soiling to top corner of pages 37 and 40. The titular poem was first published in a 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, then here as part of this twelve-poem pamphlet. It is seen as a pivotal moment in which poetry shifted from late 19th-century Romantic verse and Georgian lyrics, catapulting toward Modernism. A nice copy of this fragile production with a great association between two very important figures in the Modernist movement.
Price: $25,000.00