Signed by Lee

Lee, Laurie ~ My Many-Coated Man : Signed by The Author

First printing, Andre Deutsch Limited, London: 1955

8vo., cream publisher’s boards, ruled, decorated and lettered in pink and black; together in the repeat dustwrapper (6s net); THE BOOK a near-fine copy, with small dent to head of spine, neat ownership name and date to the ffep; the very good DUSTWRAPPER evenly toned to the panels and spine, with small nicks to spine ends and edges; and one closed tear/chip (2cm) to the lower panel, held to verso of jacket by internal tape. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, first printing of this collection of poems, boldly signed by Lee in blue ink to the title page. A collection of fifteen poems, compiled by Lee from those written since the war. Predominantly known for his autobiographical trilogy, beginning with Cider with Rosie (Hogarth Press, 1959), Lee was also an accomplished poet, and often called poetry his ‘first love’. In his poems, he drew much inspiration from the English countryside (here evident in pieces such as ‘Long Summer’, ‘Apples’, and ‘Town Owl’) and his work was sometimes compared to other pastoral poets such as Edward Thomas and John Clare. He published four collections of poetry in his lifetime, of which this was the third (preceded by The Sun my Monument in 1944 and The Bloom of Candles in 1947, and succeeded by Pocket Poets (1960). The poem ‘Twelfth Night’, which appears in this collection, was set for an acapella choral arrangement by the American composer Samuel Barber in 1968. “His poems shock the eye into a fresh, exact focus on the beautifully familiar” (Dust jacket).

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good