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Frost, Robert. A BOY'S WILL. David Nutt, London;, 1913.

Price: US$1000.00 + shipping

Description: Octavo, cream linen-paper wrappers printed in black. First edition. Frost's first book, preceded by TWILIGHT (1894), a privately printed 12-page booklet limited to two copies (only one of which is known to exist). The printer's records state 1000 copies of A BOY'S WILL were printed. Crane A2 (second issue, binding D). Faint ink mark on front cover, a nearly fine copy. Enclosed in a custom cloth slipcase. (#160348)

Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first printing, second issue. Binding D. Very Good with toning and several tiny stains to wraps, chipping at spine ends with a 1/2-inch loss at the head. Frost's first published book of poetry--though this was preceded by the 1894 publication of "Twilight," which was printed in an edition of two copies, with only one of which surviving today.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

FROST, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$1500.00 + shipping

Description: Small, thin 8vo. ix, [3], [1]-50, [2] pages. Original tan printed wrappers (Binding D); cloth folding box. FIRST EDITION, second issue. The author's first book, preceded only by the legendary Twilight [1894] of which only one copy is known. Frost has the distinction of being one of the few poets who was successful throughout his entire lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer prizes among his many awards. Clymer and Green p. 20; Crane A2. Fine

Seller: Riverrun Books & Manuscripts, ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$1500.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, second issue. ix, [3], [1]-50, [2]pp. 1 vols. Small, thin 8vo. The author's first book, preceded only by the legendary Twilight [1894] of which only one copy is known. Frost has the distinction of being one of the few poets who was successful throughout his entire lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer prizes among his many awards. Clymer and Green p. 20; Crane A2 Original tan printed wrappers (Binding D). Fine. Cloth folding box ix, [3], [1]-50, [2]pp. 1 vols. Small, thin 8vo

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$4000.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: First edition, second Issue, Binding D, one of 135 copies, signed and numbered by Frost. 50 pp. Softcover, bound in wraps with four-petaled flower motif on the front cover. Unmarked.

Seller: Moroccobound Fine Books, IOBA, Lewis Center, OH, U.S.A.

FROST, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$4000.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: First edition, signed issue, second issue, binding D. 12mo. 52pp. Cream-colored linen wrappers printed in black. Frederick Baldwin Adams, Jr.'s copy, with his pencil notation about this printing on the front flyleaf, housed in an envelope, in a custom stiff paper and card chemise, with Adams' Rockwell Kent-designed bookplate inside the front cover of the chemise. This is the Signed issue, copy number 123 of 135 numbered copies Signed and numbered by Robert Frost in 1923 on the half-title page. According to *Crane* A2 note: binding D (with rubberstamp "Printed in Great Britain" on verso of title page, as distributed by Dunster House, Cambridge, Mass, 1923. See Crane, p. 7-9, for the complicated publishing history of this title). Adams was an important collector, and friend of Robert Frost.

Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.

Robert Frost. A Boy's Will (Signed and Inscribed). David Nutt - UK, 1913.

Price: US$4000.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: A Boy's Will (Signed and Inscribed) 1913 Fine Minus - signed and inscribed Cream Wrappers D binding Signed and Inscribed to friend Wade Van Dore Additional Photos Available Upon Request David Nutt - UK

Seller: D & L Fine Books, Richboro, PA, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$4000.00 + shipping

Description: First Edition, Second Issue, Binding D, No. 126 of 135 copies, signed and numbered by Frost. 50, [2] pp. 1 vols. Sm 8vo. This issue offered by Louis Cohn of House of Books when he bought the remains of Dunster House Bookshop from Maurice Firuski. Crane A2, Binding D First Edition, Second Issue, Binding D, No. 126 of 135 copies, signed and numbered by Frost.

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$4500.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first printing, second issue. Signed by Robert Frost on the half title page numbered "109" (out of 135 copies signed and numbered in 1943 for Herman Cohen of Chiswick Book Shop, NY). Binding "D". Bound in cream colored wraps lettered in black. Very Good+ with light soiling to wraps, one small stain at rear wrap at tail. Minor staining to edges; offset from author's signature to verse of front wrap. Undated sales receipt of Philip C. Duchnes, NY laid in. Frost's first published book of poetry--though this was preceded by the 1894 publication of "Twilight," which was printed in an edition of two copies, with only one of which surviving today.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert.. A Boy's Will.. David Nutt, 1913.

Price: US$4500.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: A Fine copy in dull white printed wrappers, with stamp "printed in Great Britain" on the copyright page. Binding D, with four-petaled flower motif on the front cover. SIGNED by Frost under his name on the title page and numbered "99". 50pp. A clean unworn copy. Q14889

Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$6490.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First edition, first issue, first binding (of which there were 350 copies or less from the overall edition of 1000), of Frost's first published book. Original bronze pebble grain cloth lettered in gilt. Covers with some sporadic spotting, corners bumped, internally quite clean. Overall a Near Fine, solid copy housed in custom folding case. I Vow to Thee, My Country (British song based on a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice circa 1921) written on rear end papers in contemporary hand - presumably by a very patriotic, poetry loving Englishman.****** "The author's first book published in England where the 40 year old poet was living in a Bungalow at Beaconsfield. He had published an earlier work in 1894 called 'Twilight. Five Poems' in an edition of 2 copies one for his future bride, Elinor White, and one for himself. He destroyed his own copy. The remaining copy is at the University of Virginia. **** Frost is closely linked with the New England region, he attempted to catch 'the abstract vitality of our speech' in his poetry. However his first two collections were published in London - A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). He and his wife and children had moved to England in 1912 after he had been unable to make a living in a variety of occupations (including cobbling) or to find a publisher for his poems in America. Through his friendship with the Imagist poet F. S. Flint he made important contacts in London like Ezra Pound, Edward Thomas, T. E. Hulme and Georgian poets like Lascelles Abercrombie and Wilfrid Gibson --these were essential to Frost's publishing success. Books of poetry were usually reviewed by critics who know the author (then and now.) **** When Ezra Pound's favourable review of A Boy's Will appeared in 'Poetry: A Magazine of Verse' in May of 1913, Frost reacted with mixed emotions. He knew that Pound's review would be crucial in influencing other critics in England, but he disagreed with Pound's assessment of his poetry as simple and untutored. Norman Douglas wrote, in a review, of his 'simple woodland philosophy but there was a darker side to his poems, a combative and troubled spirit--Lionel Trilling famously called him 'a poet of terror' at a speech given on Frost's 85th birthday." (Bookride)***Please email us for better pricing.***

Seller: Anniroc Rare Books, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.

FROST, Robert.. A Boy's Will.. London David Nutt, 1913.

Price: US$6655.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, first issue; 8vo (200 x 135 mm); a few random spots, pencil ownership inscription dated 1914 to front free endpaper and scholarly notes to rear fly-leaf in the same hand (pencil), dated 13.III.14; publisher's bronze pebbled cloth, some light fading to spine and covers, minor dent to spine, spine ends and corners a little bumped, a bright and very good example overall; ix [2] 2-50, [2 including one advertisement] pp. Frost's first published book in the earliest 'A' binding, one of around 350 copies. Frost wrote A Boy's Will whilst living with his family in Beaconsfield, it would be published in America in 1915 and was favourably reviewed by Ezra Pound in Poetry. Frost was nearly 40 at the time and had visited England in the hope that his poetry would be better understood and received, which it was. On the strength of this collection's success here and the outbreak of war in Europe, Frost returned to the U.S. and a rising career. Poems include; The Tuft of Flowers; My Butterfly; Spoils of the Dead; Going for Water; etc., thirty-two poems in all.

Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$7500.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First edition, first printing, first issue binding of Frost's first published book. Bound in publisher's bronze pebbled cloth over boards, with titles stamped on the upper board in gilt. Very Good or better, with boards lightly sunned, and lightly worn at the tips. Pages toned, previous owner gift inscription to front free endpaper, and a small edge-tear to the title page. Published while Frost was living in England in hopes of finding a more receptive audience for his poetry, it was accepted by the first publisher he approached. While this book was at the press, Frost met Ezra Pound, who offered to write a review of it, which greatly helped propel Frost's reputation and stature. Pound soon introduced Frost to W. B. Yeats, who considered this book "the best poetry written in America in a long time." A lovely copy of what marks the start of an illustrious career, in which Frost would win four Pulitzer Prizes. One of fewer than 350 copies in first issue binding.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A BOY'S WILL. Inscribed. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$7900.00 + shipping

Description: 1st Edition. Signed by Author. Presentation Copy of the First Edition of the author's first book, preceded only by the legendary Twilight [1894] of which only one copy is known. Neatly & succinctly inscribed in blue-black fountain pen on the half-title to friend & admirer George Crosbie. "For Crosbie / from / Frost". Most of Crosbie's Frost collection was given to Blair Academy [new Jersey] in 1988. A fine copy in the original cream linen wrappers, a bit dusty but otherwise quite nice. Binding D [with 4-petaled flowers]. 1 of only 686 copies of 1000 printed, with "Printed in Great Britain" rubber-stamped on the copyright page. Custom cloth case with chemise. Clymer and Green p. 20; Crane A2.

Seller: TBCL The Book Collector's Library, Montreal, QC, Canada

FROST Robert. Boy's Will. , 1913.

Price: US$8200.00 + shipping

Description: "FROST, Robert. A Boy's Will. London: David Nutt, 1913 [1923]. 12mo, original cream linen-paper wrappers. Housed in a custom chemise half morocco slipcase. $8200.Fine first edition, second issue, Crane binding D, of Frost’s first publication, inscribed on the title page, "Dust of Snow. The way a crow / Shook down on me / The dust of snow / From a hemlock tree / Has given my heart / A change of mood / And saved some part Of a day I rued. Robert Frost 1914. For Ruth Lentz." "The poems in A Boy's Will are short lyrics, many of them love poems for Elinor [Frost's wife]. Although a few have the inversions and poetic language associated with 19th-century poetry, others, such as 'Mowing' and 'Storm Fear,' indicate the experiments with voice tone and colloquial diction that distinguish Frost's great poetry. The lyrics are arranged to chronicle a boy's maturation from idealism and self-centeredness to a realization of love and an acceptance of loss" (DAB). "Dust of Snow," the work Frost has inscribed on this copy, first appeared in the collection New Hampshire ten years after A Boy's Will. In September 1912 Frost took his family to England and there found a publisher, David Nutt, who was willing to bring out his first book of poetry. One thousand sets of sheets of the book were originally printed, according to the report of the printer, Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. No more than 350 copies, but likely only about 284 copies, were bound up for distribution by Nutt between April 1913 and the spring of 1921. Copies bound for Nutt before April 1, 1913 were bound in binding A—bronzed brown pebbled cloth—by the Leighton-Straker Bookbinding Co. Those in binding B, cream vellum-paper boards, were bound and issued during World War I. In 1921 Nutt went bankrupt and the remaining sheets "were in danger of being reduced to pulp," so Frost set out to "raise all the money I can to buy in those poor old first editions of mine Some of my friends think they might be worth something" in America (Crane, A2). All of the unbound sheets were bound in bindings C (100 copies for Simpkin Marshall) and D (the remainder of the copies) and sent to Dunster House Bookshop in Cambridge, along with unsold volumes in binding B. This is a copy of Binding D, with cream linen wrappers, black lettering, no blind rules, and four-petaled flowers. Crane A2 (second issue). One tiny mark to rear wrapper. A beautiful inscribed copy."

Seller: Bauman Rare Books, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.

FROST, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$12500.00 + shipping

Description: Small 8vo, original bronze brown pebbled cloth. Spine very slightly faded, extremities a bit rubbed, otherwise a fine copy preserved in a half morocco slipcase. Spine very slightly faded, extremities a bit rubbed, otherwise a fine copy preserved in a half morocco slipcase First edition, first issue, in the earliest binding [Crane's Binding A] of Frost's first regularly published book. Of approximately 1000 copies of the first edition of A Boy's Will, fewer than 350 copies were issued by Nutt, which went into bankruptcy after the First World War, and even fewer copies were bound in the first binding of bronze cloth before April 1, 1913; the balance of the copies that Nutt issued were not bound until four years later in different forms by a different binder. Crane A2.

Seller: James S. Jaffe Rare Books, LLC, ABAA, Deep River, CT, U.S.A.

Robert Frost. A Boy's Will, the first binding state of the first edition, signed by Frost. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$12500.00 + shipping

Description: This is an elusive prize - the first edition, first printing, first binding state of Robert Frost’s first published book, signed by the author.First published in England in 1913, the publication history of A Boy’s Will is complicated by the fact that the reported 1,000 first edition sheets saw two issues in four variant bindings. These many iterations were bound and sold over a period of three decades, owing in part to the bankruptcy of the original publisher (Nutt) and sale of remaining first edition sheets during the subsequent liquidation. It is estimated that "no more than 350 copies" and plausibly as few as 284 were issued thus, in the publisher’s original shiny bronzed brown pebbled cloth "used to bind the first books that appeared." Known to Frost bibliographers and collectors as "binding A", these copies "were bound by the Leighton-Straker Bookbinding Co. before 1 April 1913." Rendering this copy of "binding A" even more compelling than scarcity warrants is Frost’s signature "Robert Frost" on the upper right of the half-title page. Ink, nib, and hand all indicate that Frost’s signature is contemporaneous.Condition of the book is good plus – sound, complete, and unrestored, though showing some befittingly venerable signs of age. The bronzed brown cloth binding is tight, clean, and retains its hue and sheen on the majority of both covers. The spine is sunned, as are the inner edges of both boards adjacent to the hinges. There is lesser toning to a strip of the upper rear cover and the fore edges. The front cover gilt print and decoration remains bright. The cloth shows minor shelf wear to extremities, most notably some fraying at the spine ends. The first issue contents are marked only by the author; we find no previous ownership marks. Spotting is intermittent and light within, more evident on the untrimmed page edges. The signature connecting the half title and title page leaves remains uncut.Iconic American poet and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), the quintessential poetic voice of New England, was actually born in San Francisco and first published in England. When Frost was eleven, his newly widowed mother moved east to New Hampshire. There Frost swiftly found his poetic voice, infused by New England scenes and sensibilities. Promising as both a student and writer, Frost nonetheless dropped out of both Dartmouth and Harvard, supporting himself and a young family by teaching and farming. Ironically, a 1912 move to England with his wife and children – "the place to be poor and to write poems" – catalyzed Frost’s recognition as a noteworthy American poet. The manuscript of A Boy’s Will was completed in England and published by David Nutt in April 1913. "Yeats pronounced the poetry "the best written in America for some time" and Frost received "two extraordinary tributes in the Nation and the Chicago Dial and a superb review in the Academy."" (ANB) A convocation of critical recognition, introduction to other writers, and creative energy supported the English publication of Frost’s second book, North of Boston, in 1914, after which "Frost’s reputation as a leading poet had been firmly established in England, and Henry Holt of New York had agreed to publish his books in America." Accolades met Frost’s return to America at the end of 1914. By 1917 a move to Amherst "launched him on the twofold career he would lead for the rest of his life: teaching whatever "subjects" he pleased at a congenial college and "barding around," his term for "saying" poems in a conversational performance." (ANB) In 1924 he won the first of an eventual four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry (1931, 1937, and 1943). Frost spent his final decades as "the most highly esteemed American poet of the twentieth century" with a host of academic and civic honors to his credit. Two years before his death he became the first poet to read in the program of a U.S. Presidential inauguration (Kennedy, January 1961). Reference: Crane A2

Seller: Churchill Book Collector ABAA/ILAB/IOBA, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

Frost, Robert. A Boy's Will. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$22000.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: An exceptional copy of the first issue of Robert Frost's first published book, surely among the nicest of copies extant today. First edition, first printing, first issue binding. Bound in publisher's bronze pebbled cloth over boards, with titles stamped on the upper board in gilt. Fine, with the slightest fading to the spine. A remarkable survival. Published while Frost was living in England in hopes of finding a more receptive audience for his poetry, it was accepted by the first publisher he approached. While this book was at the press, Frost met Ezra Pound, who offered to write a review of it, which greatly helped propel Frost's reputation and stature. Pound soon introduced Frost to W. B. Yeats, who considered this book "the best poetry written in America in a long time." A lovely copy of what marks the start of an illustrious career, in which Frost would win four Pulitzer Prizes. One of fewer than 350 copies in first issue binding.

Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

FROST, Robert. A BOY'S WILL. David Nutt, London, 1913.

Price: US$62500.00 + shipping

Description: Original bronzed brown pebbled cloth, gilt-lettered on the front cover. Crane A2: First Issue, Binding A of Frost's first book. Less than 350 copies of the first issue in the first binding were issued, from a total edition of 1,000. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper: "To William Stockhausen/this a first of my first/Robert Frost/and pleased to meet it/again so fresh after all/these years/Dec 26 1960." In addition on the front endpaper is the pencil ownership signature of Henry James, Jr. with a 55 East 65th St. address. According to the SOTHEBY PARKE BERNET catalog of THE WILLIAM E. STOCKHAUSEN COLLECTION, 1974, "this copy is most certainly from the library of Henry James the novelist. The owner name is in the hand of his nephew Henry James but appears to be an identification of source. The nephew inherited a large part of the novelist's library on the author's death in 1916. He never used either Jr. or Henry James II but his uncle did use the latter. Since this is evidently not his own ownership inscription it appears to be more than likely that he wrote it to identify those books which had come from his uncle's library." A copy of NORTH OF BOSTON also inscribed to Stockhausen had a similar ownership signature. This copy of A BOY'S WILL was last on the market in 1977, and a letter from the well-known bookseller to the buyer is laid in. Housed in a cloth chemise and handsome brown morocco-backed cloth slipcase. A spectacular copy with an exceptional association

Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.