POUND, Ezra.. Cathay. Translations. for the most part from the Chinese of Rihaku, from notes of the late Ernest Fenollosa, and the decipherings of the professors Mori and Ariga.. London Elkin Mathews, 1915.

Price: US$1815.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, sole impression; 8vo; publisher's buff wrappers, titles to front wrapper in black; just a trace of toning to the backstrip but a remarkably nice copy. The first of Pound's Chinese translations most of which were subsequently collected in Lustra, Personae and the collected poems. Only 1000 copies of this title were issued and copies in such nice shape as the present example are not common. Gallup A9.

Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom

POUND, Ezra.. Cathay. Translations, for the most part from the Chinese of Rihaku, from the notes of the late Ernest Fenollosa, and the deciphering of professors Mori and Ariga.. London: Elkin Mathews, 1915, 1915.

Price: US$2226.04 + shipping

Description: First edition, first impression, of Pound's adaptations from the ancient Chinese poets, this copy exceptionally well preserved in a later glassine jacket. Pound's Cathay, alongside the translations by his contemporary Arthur Waley, were responsible for introducing the great poets of Chinese history to English-speaking audiences in the early 20th century. Pound's adaptations defined the wording and form of Chinese poetry for a generation of readers, leading T. S. Eliot, in his introduction to Pound's Selected Poems (1928), to declare his mentor "the inventor of Chinese poetry for our time". The collection includes adaptations of poems by Rihaku (Li Bai), who Pound pointedly notes "flourished in the eighth century of our era. The Anglo-Saxon Seafarer is of about this period. The other poems from the Chinese are earlier". Pound's modern English translation of "Seafarer", one of his best such works, is also included in this collection. Gallup A9 (1,000 copies). Octavo. Original tan wrappers, printed in black, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. With later glassine. A couple of leaves faintly foxed, else a near-fine copy.

Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom

Pound, Ezra. Cathay. Translations by Ezra Pound for the most part from the Chinese of Rihaku, from the notes of the late Ernest Fenollosa, and the decipherings of the professors Mori and Ariga. Elkin Mathews, London, 1915.

Price: US$2250.00 + shipping

Description: Original brown wrappers, a fine copy, free from the frequently found spotting or foxing, one of 1000 printed. Bookplate of Eleanor and Fred Reid by Jack B. Yeats. These poems were not Pound's actual translations, but superbly allusive versions of the Chinese poems and the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Seafarer". Gallup A9.

Seller: Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books (ABAA), CHESTER, CT, U.S.A.