[Rarebooks] FS: Robert Frost's First Book in dustwrapper with important ephemera including a letter by W. D. Howells

[Charles Agvent]

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FROST, Robert A BOY'S WILL
New York Henry Holt 1915 First Edition Crane A2.1. 750 copies. First 
state. The British edition printed by Nutt preceded this printing, but 
most copies were not released for several years after publication. This 
copy with some exceptional and fragile ephemera including an AUTOGRAPH 
LETTER SIGNED from William Dean Howells, with the envelope addressed and 
also SIGNED by Howells, to Henry Meigs dated Dec. 1915. In full: "Mr. 
Frost's letter is like his poetry and of the same gentle impulse. I 
thank you for letting me see it. Frost will go farther yet in his work." 
A pencil copy of Frost's letter to Meigs, presumably by him is included; 
it may well be the only surviving copy of the letter and though 
difficult to read does support Howells's assertion. Also present are 
pages 214-224 only of the August 1915 issue of THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY with 
Edward Garnett's important essay "A New American Poet" as well as a 
group of Frost's poems, the pages Frost would later refer to as his 
"American Send-off." Also, two TYPED LETTERS INITIALED and one envelope 
from Frost's American publisher Henry Holt & Company to Meigs dated 1915 
and 1916 about Frost. In part, the earlier letter: "If we publish 
anything further by Mr. Frost...." The 1916 letter: "Mrs. Frost, who was 
with him, said the apples came and were all 'Frost-bitten' much to the 
delight of their children." Two 1915 newspaper clippings including a 
review and a poem Meigs convinced an Indianapolis paper to print. Meigs 
signature on endpaper and pencil notes throughout. Occasional 
offsetting. Dustwrapper spine rubbed, chipped. Very Good in a Very Good 
dustwrapper with noted ephemera. Rare!      $7500

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