[Rarebooks] Offering: A Hornbook for Witches, Inscribed, with Photos and a Manuscript Book of Poems

[Michael John Thompson]

THE RAREST ARKHAM HOUSE BOOK, Inscribed, with Photographs, plus a 
Manuscript Book and the author's rare poetry anthology.



DRAKE, Leah Bodine. A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES. Inscribed Presentation copy 
with an two original photographs of the author laid in [along with] GOBLIN 
MARKET: SELECTED POEMS OF LEAH BODINE DRAKE, a handmade manuscript book 
comprising of typescripts of the author’s poems and illustrations selected 
by her, 23 poems, compiled in 1963-1964 by the author. Unique. [along with] 
THE VARIOUS LIGHT. An Anthology of Modern Poetry in English. Edited by Leah 
Bodine Drake and Charles A. Muses.

Together, three items plus 2 photographs.

1) DRAKE, Leah Bodine.  A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES. Poems of Fantasy. Sauk 
City, Wisconsin: Arkham House. 1950. First edition, 523 copies printed. 
Octavo, original; black cloth titled in gilt on spine panel, original 
printed dust wrapper with artwork by Frank Utpatel. Inscribed by the author 
on the half-title leaf: “To my favorite Sorcerer and White Magician, 
Charles A. Muses, with affection and admiration, L.B.D. January, 1962, 
Lausanne, Switzerland”.  Laid into this copy are two original snapshot 
photographs of Drake, both portraits in profile, one of higher quality than 
the other, both with a note on the verso “Leah Bodine Drake, August 1, 
1961, Lausanne, Suisse” in the hand of Charles Muses, who presumably took 
the photographs as well. An additional two poems, COLD ORCHARD and IN THE 
NIGHT, clipped from an issue of  THE FIDDLEHEAD, Summer, 1963, are  affixed 
to the last blank leaf, inscribed “For Charles” in Drake’s hand. The front 
endpaper has been neatly excised, making the inscription on the half title 
leaf the first leaf of the book. Tape ghosts on endpapers from old adjacent 
tape (an old dust wrapper protector), light wear to extremities of dust 
wrapper, some old tape at spine tips on interior of wrapper, minor bit of 
tape at spine head on outside of wrapper, a very good copy.

Long considered the rarest of all Arkham House books (with the exception of 
H.P. Lovecraft’s THE SHUNNED HOUSE, published by The Recluse Press in 1926, 
the sheets of which were distributed by Arkhm in 1961). Printed in an 
edition of 523 copies, 300 of which went directly to the author, leaving 
only 253 copies which were distributed by Arkham. A few of the copies which 
were taken by Drake were presented to friends (as, presumably, this copy 
here), but the remainder have vanished. Inscribed copies are very uncommon.

2) DRAKE, Leah Bodine. GOBLIN MARKET: SELECTED POEMS by Leah Bodine Drake. 
Author’s Handmade Typescript Scrapbook, roughly 8.5 x 11 inches, 
comprising  58 pages. Quarto, housed in a pre-made blank scrapbook, this is 
an elaborate and lovingly made collection of  typescript poems and 
illustrations culled from old books, postcards, etc, the main title on the 
inside cover of the book in the author’s handwriting, each poem is 
presented on one side of the page with a matching illustration on the recto 
of the following leaf, each image hand-titled by the author to reflect a 
passage in her poem. Some corrections to the texts. Poems included are THE 
UNDINE, CHANGELING, LUNA, THE WEB, GAGE TO A LOVER, THE WORDY WILLOW, THE 
OLD WORLDLY GREEN, CHILDHOOD SUMMERS, THE WOODS GROW DARK, THERE ARE 
FAIRIES, HE REMEMBERS BARBARY, THE PHOENIX EGG, THE SPRAY, THE RIDER, THE 
FOAM-BORN, THE MIDDLE AGES, OLD DAPHNE, A WARNING TO SCEPTICS, HELLENIC 
WORLD, MINOR POET, CROON OF THE MER-MOTHER, and TARASCON. The images are 
mostly by Arthur Rackham, Warwick Goble, and Edmund Dulac. Drake has also 
Created the feel of a medieval manuscript by using head-and tail figures, 
initial letters, decorated borders, etc, all clipped from books, magazines 
and prints. An amateurish effort, but painstakingly produced. One of the 
poems printed here, CHANGELING, appears in A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES; another, 
THE WORDY WILLOW appears in her co-edited anthology THE VARIOUS LIGHT. 
Several of the poems herein are presumed to be unpublished. Loosely laid 
into this copy is a leaf of paper in the hand of Dr. Charles A. Muses, 
listing the contents and stating “GOBLIN MARKET- Leah Bodine Drake – Rec’d 
Feb 20, 1964, by Leah’s Will”. Muses has numbered the pages and hand-titled 
the spine. Rear panel a bit marked and slightly bowed from a touch of damp, 
but very good overall, and unique.

3) DRAKE, Leah Bodine and Charles Arthur Muses [editors]. THE VARIOUS 
LIGHT. An Anthology of Modern Poetry in English. Lausanne, Switzerland: 
Aurora Press. 1964. First edition. Octavo, original glossy white wrappers 
printed in black & green. An important poetry anthology with contributions 
by Erle Birney, Joseph Payne Brennan, August Derleth, Leah Bodine Drake, 
Robert Graves, Ted Hughes, C.S. Lewis, W.S. Merwin, Sylvia Plath, Thomas 
Burnett Swann and many others. Printed in Portugal in an edition limited to 
500 copies. Published by Charles Muses under the imprint of the Aurora 
Press, this copy was one of a very few retained by the publisher, a few of 
which we received from his estate: this is our last copy. A note in Muses' 
hand in  a copy previously sold by us stated "Extremely rare. Most copies 
destroyed by a flood of the Tagus River in a warehouse near Lisbon in the 
1960's". A few faint creases, a near fine copy.



Leah Bodine Drake (1914 – November 21, 1964), American poet, editor and 
critic.Born in Kansas, attended school in Cincinnati, Ohio and Kentucky. 
Two published books of poetry, A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES (1950) and THIS 
TILTING DUST (1956), plus one co-edited anthology (with Charles A. Muses) 
THE INMOST LIGHT (1964). Poetry reviewer for THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY 
1957-1958. Her own poems were published in THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, THE NEW 
YORKER, COMMONWEAL, THE SATURDAY REVIEW and others. Most importantly she 
was a regular contributor to WEIRD TALES magazine, and a collection of her 
fantastic poetry was published by August Derleth under his Arkham House 
imprint in 1950. Leah Bodine Drake died in Parkersburg, West Virginia on 
November 21st, 1964.. Her papers are at the University of Kentucky Library, 
31 volumes which consist mainly of scrapbooks of poems.

A fine collection with impeccable providence, consisting of her most 
important book of poetry and the rarest Arkham House book, inscribed with 
photos; a manuscript poetry book, hand-made and lovingly crafted; and the 
poetry anthology which she edited with the inscribee of the Arkham House 
volume, all from the estate of Charles A. Muses.


The lot:  $3,750.00 US.

Terms: as usual.

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Michael John Thompson
Member, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Canada
5275 Jerow Road
Hornby Island, BC
Canada V0R 1Z0
250-335-1182

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