[Rarebooks] FS: 5 SIGNED W. B. Yeats & 1 Archive of Original Art on the 74th anniversary of the poet's death

Mon Jan 28 13:12:12 EST 2013

1.  YEATS, W. B. (editor) (Rowal FRIERS). IRISH FOLK TALES. Publisher's 
Archive of the Original Art for the Book. [Avon, CT]: [Limited Editions 
Club], [1973]. The archive includes 12 ink and watercolor drawings (some 
SIGNED), 18 ink drawings, 15 photo proofs of tailpieces and 19 photo 
proofs of titles, all housed in an envelope from the Limited Editions 
Club. Annotations in crayon and pencil to the margins. With the artist's 
label on the rear of each work. Fine with bright colors. (#016648)    
     $2,500.00

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2.  YEATS, W. B. THE KING'S THRESHOLD: AND ON BAILE'S STRAND: BEING 
VOLUME THREE OF PLAYS FOR AN IRISH THEATRE. London: A. H. Bullen, 1904. 
First Edition. Original green linen-backed gray paper boards with paper 
spine label. Wade 56. Published in March 1904. This copy while not 
signed by the author is INSCRIBED by him on the front endpaper: "To 
MD/for her [his?] birthday/Mar 1904." An educated guess is that MD might 
stand for the actress Miss Darragh [Florence Laetitia (Dallas) Darragh), 
an established figure on the London stage who appeared in the Dublin 
1906 production of Yeats's plays DEIRDRE and THE SHADOWY WATERS and of 
whom Yeats thought very highly. Another possibility is Michael Davitt, 
the Irish Nationalist, whose birthday was on the 25th of March and who 
died in 1906. Adding to the intrigue is an old pencil note in an 
unidentified hand on the front pastedown: "pres. copy for Stephen 
Gwynn." Gwynn, author and Irish nationalist, was a champion for Yeats. 
According to the DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, "In spite of his book 
IRISH LITERATURE AND DRAMA (1936) and some early association with the 
Irish Players in London, Gwynn himself had little to do with drama, and 
stood apart from the fame and influence of the Abbey Theatre." Perhaps 
the most likely possibility is the illustrator and playwright Mabel 
Dearmer, a very close friend of Gwynn's who died while serving as a 
nurse in World War I. Gwynn wrote a memoir of her in Dearmer's 
posthumously published LETTERS FROM A FIELD HOSPITAL. Thus the pencil 
note related to Gwynn could refer to his receiving the book from Dearmer 
or from a member of her family after her death. An altogether Very Good 
and intriguing copy. (#012683)        $3,500.00

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3.  YEATS, W. B. PLAYS IN PROSE AND VERSE WRITTEN FOR AN IRISH THEATRE, 
AND GENERALLY WITH THE HELP OF A FRIEND. New York: The MacMillan 
Company, 1924. First Edition. First Printing of the New and Revised 
Edition. Original green cloth-backed brown paper boards with a paper 
label on the front cover and on the spine. Copy #66 of only 250 numbered 
copies SIGNED by the author on the limitation leaf. Lacking the scarce 
slipcase. Light wear to corners. A bright, close to Fine copy and quite 
unusual as such. (#015706) $2,500.00

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4.  YEATS, W. B. THREE THINGS. London: Faber & Faber, 1929. First 
Edition. Original thin gilt-lettered blue boards. Yeats's single poem is 
illustrated with two drawings, one in color, by Gilbert Spencer. Copy 
#455 of only 500 numbered copies SIGNED by the author, constituting the 
Large Paper Edition printed by the Curwen Press. As always, the fragile 
spine suffers some loss of paper, in this case only two thin strips less 
than an inch in length. Still Near Fine for this fragile piece, 
increasingly uncommon. (#012679)        $1,000.00

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5.  YEATS, W. B. THE TREMBLING OF THE VEIL. London: T. Werner Laurie, 
1922. First Edition. Original gray boards with parchment spine. 
Photogravure frontispiece portait of Yeats after Charles Shannon. Copy 
#187 of 1000 numbered copies SIGNED by the author on the limitation 
leaf. Wade 133. A Near Fine copy with slight darkening of the spine and 
bumping to the corners. Lacking the uncommon dustwrapper. (#015948)    
     $1,350.00

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6.  YEATS, W. B. THE VARIORUM EDITION OF THE POEMS OF W. B. YEATS. New 
York: The MacMillan Company, 1957. First Edition. Original two-color 
buckram with gilt lettering on the spine; 884 pages. Edited by Peter 
Allt and Russell K. Alspach. Copy #707 of 825 numbered copies SIGNED by 
the author on the limitation leaf of this definitive collection of 
Yeats's poetry. Yeats was the first Irish writer to win the Nobel Prize. 
Very mild sunning to the spine. Just about Fine, lacking the slipcase. 
(#015731)        $2,500.00

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