Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$40.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Previous owner's name inside front cover. Otherwise, a clean unmarked copy in excellent condition. 90 pages.
Seller: Yes Books, portland, ME, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition, First Printing. 6.25 x 9.25in. 90pp. Publisher's cloth boards. VERY GOOD in Very Good dust jacket protected in a removable archival cover. The book itself shows marginal shelf rubbing along the extremities, former owner bookplates at the front and back paste-down, former owner name at the front endpaper, otherwise the binding is strong and tight, the text is clean and unmarked, and the boards remain bright and distinct. The dust jacket shows marginal shelf rubbing of the edges, a hint of loss at the head of the spine, otherwise is not price-clipped remaining bright, colorful, and distinct. As pictured.
Seller: North Books: Used & Rare, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$45.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First trade edition. A few small spots on the binding near the spine, light foxing on the topedge and on a few pages towards the back of the book, else very good, in a toned, very good dust jacket, with a few small spots and abrasions, and some edgewear including chips and tiny tears. With a mail-in order form laid in.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$49.95 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Protected jacket has a scuff mark on the lower center in front and a small piece missing at the top of the spine, price of $3.00 intact. Covers in near fine condition, the spine is tilted, pages clean and unmarked. No statement of First Edition on copyright page. Rare and collectible.
Seller: Bill's Books, Annapolis, MD, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, 1954.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo. 9 3/16 x 6 1/4". 90pp. Yellow cloth boards stamped in crimson and black on front and downward on spine. Gray dust jacket printed in crimson and black. Published March 25, 1954. 2532 copies printed by the Spiral Press, NY. Dust jacket flap price of $3.00. Wallace A38. Some toning to dust jacket. Name of previous owner on front free endpaper.
Seller: Midway Book Store (ABAA), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$56.25 + shipping
Description: Octavo; VG-/G; tan spine with gray and black text; dust jacket has age toning to exterior, more so toward edges; other, sparse spots to exterior; small chips to corners; cloth exterior has mildly age toned; two slight darkish streaks to front; straight boards; text block exterior edges have slightly age toned; interior pages clean; tight binding; pp 90. 1354673. FP New Rockville Stock.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo. 90 pages. Original pale green cloth; printed dust jacket. First edition of Williams's late lyrical masterwork, collecting five-years of work. The Desert Music shows William's continued evolution of the variable foot, his triadic "step-down-line" developed in the 1940s (particularly in Paterson). He based the concept on the idea that each line corresponds exactly to one single breath unit - unlike cadence, the length of the line corresponds to a colon, so it is an isocolic rhythmical pattern. It was, in his estimation, the culmination of a lifelong search for a new form of prosody. Included in The Desert Music is the superb poem "The Orchestra" ending with one of the poet's greatest condensations of his belief in the power of the artist: "THE BIRDS TWITTER now anew / but a design / surmounts their twittering. / It is a design of a man / that makes them twitter. / It is a design." Wallace A38. A fine copy in a jacket with some toning at top and to spine, but otherwise clean and well-preserved
Seller: Riverrun Books & Manuscripts, ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: Book condition is Very Good; with a Very Good dust jacket. Some toning, staining and edge wear to jacket. Interior is evenly toned throughout. Text is clean and unmarked. ; 8vo. 9 1/4"h x 6 1/4"w.
Seller: Evolving Lens Bookseller, Kingston, NY, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House,, NY:, 1954.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: No indication of printing. Very good in a very good (age darkened) dust jacket.
Seller: Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB, Springfield, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$71.64 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Light coloured cloth with red and black lettered front board and spine. Book very lghtly cocked, with a few pages lightly bumped at bottom edge, else very good. Dust jacket not price clipped, darakened at spine and age-toned edges, with light wear and a few creases. Good clean copy.
Seller: Karol Krysik Books ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA, Toronto, ON, Canada
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, 1954.
Price: US$85.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition. Dust jacket tanned along edges.
Seller: Moe's Books, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$90.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo. 90 pp. Lovely sharp near fine copy in olive cloth binding in a very good unclipped dustwrapper. With some small chips at spine crown. Nice copy.
Seller: Derringer Books, Member ABAA, Avon, CT, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$95.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Protected jacket and covers in near fine shape, price of $3.00 intact, binding straight, pages clean and unmarked. No statement of First Edtion, or of later printing, on copyright page.
Seller: Bill's Books, Annapolis, MD, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music And Other Poems. Random House, NY, 1954.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: 90pp. Taute linen boards with black and maroon title on spine and front board. Dust Jacket sunned on spine and 2" closed tear in front panel. Dust Jacket has 3/54 date on front flap. William Carlos Williams 1883-1963.
Seller: Du Bois Book Center, Englewood, NJ, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music And Other Poems. Random House 1954, 1954.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: Near fine in very good dust jacket toned along spine and edges with some short closed tears.
Seller: Herland Books, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Trade Edition. A Fine copy in a Fine jacket, not price-clipped, minor oxidation offset to front endpaper. 90pp. Q14230
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos.. The Desert Music And Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$108.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1st trade edition. Cloth. Dust jacket. Light damp-staining to the page and dust jacket edges, light wear at the head and heel of the dust jacket, otherwise a very good copy.
Seller: James & Mary Laurie, Booksellers A.B.A.A, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$112.50 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First trade edition. Dust jacket has very small edge chips and toned spine. Very nice copy of a rare and important work by one of the premier poets of the American 20th century.
Seller: Big E's Books, Lake City, FL, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music, and Other Poems. Random House, 1954.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Nice copy with dustjacket protected with mylar. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 90 pages
Seller: Hammonds Antiques & Books, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$135.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A Fine copy in dull yellow-tan cloth, in a Near Fine tan dustwrapper, not price-clipped, very slightly toned along spine panel, with two short closed tears top front panel. 90pp. Q06548
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: 90 pp. 8vo, publisher's cloth in dust jacket. First edition. Wallace A38. A fine copy in a near fine jacket with the slightest of borwning to the spine and upper edge.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$165.73 + shipping
Description: Titoli in nero e rosso al dorso e alla copertina. 8vo. pp. 90. . Molto buono (Very Good). . Prima edizione (First Edition). .
Seller: Studio Bibliografico Marini, ROMA, RM, Italy
Williams, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A Fine copy in a Fine jacket, not price-clipped. Lower points of spine rubbed. 90pp. "The descent beckons/as the ascent beckoned." Q12823
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, 1954.
Price: US$185.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A Fine tight copy in a Fine unclipped dust jacket. Uncommon Thus! The poems in this collection were written over a five year period from 1949-1954 and reflect the vigor and stature of his best work.
Seller: Gregor Rare Books, Langley, WA, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Toning to spine and extremeties of dust wrapper with 5x4mm chip on base of spine of dust wrapper.
Seller: Lyons Fine Books, Neenah, WI, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music; And Other Poems. Random House [1954], New York, 1954.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 8vo. [11], 4-90, [4] pp. Green cloth with red and black lettering on the front board and spine; grey topstain. Price of $3.00 on the front flap of the dust jacket. Wallace A38. A nice collection of poems by one of the greatest mid-century American poets. A Fine book in a Near Fine dust jacket with a bit of toning and edge wear.
Seller: Evening Star Books, ABAA/ILAB, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$325.32 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Review slip laid in, from Random House. Slight discoloration starting. Minimal shelf rare with review slip.
Seller: Gumshoe Books, Columbia, SC, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First trade edition. Slightest toning on the boards, else fine in very good dustwrapper with a few short tears. From the library of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter Taylor and his wife, the National Book Award-nominated poet Eleanor Ross Taylor, with Peter Taylor's ownership signature.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: signed by author on front end paper, some editiorila markings in text, top of spine torn, edges of dj yellowing, princeton antiques bookplate on inside of front cover WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS A PHYSICIAN AND POET AND THE DE HELLEBRANTH FAMILY WERE VERY CLOSE. OUR COLLECTION OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS WAS PURCHASED FROM THE HOME IN VENTNOR THE CITY NEXT TO OUR GREAT ATLANTIC CITY. Roland De Hellebranth A Doctor who performed surgeries at home and sisters Bertha de Hellebranth and Elena were born into a cultured upper-class family in Budapest, Bertha in 1899, Elena in 1897. Their father was a lawyer and their mother a student of Franz Liszt's last living pupil. They studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Budapest, at the Académie Julian and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and painted portraits of European nobility. As Patricia Fazekas points out, "Growing up in a family of privilege, they seemed to have unusual access to many illustrious people." So we should not be surprised to find among their subjects members of high society, such as Count Andrássy Gyula, the Russian-born Princess Baby Galitzine, and Admiral Horthy Miklós, the Regent. Later on, their subjects included American heiress Gladys Vanderbilt (Countess László Széchenyi), President Theodore Roosevelt's granddaughter Paulina Longworth and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Often, the sisters would paint the same subject at the same time, offering the sitter a choice of portraits. Most often, the sitter wanted both renditions. While Elena concentrated on working in oil and watercolor, Bertha used gouache and oil to achieve her effects. Elena gave lectures and workshops, was a writer and also wrote popular and ecclesiastical music, while Bertha also went in for sculpture and handicrafts. From the mid-thirties until World War II, Bertha and Elena divided their time between their home in Budapest and a home on the ocean at 109 S Frankfort ave, Ventnor, NJ. In 1925, they showed their work at the Nemzeti Szalon in Budapest, and in 1926, they had a joint exhibition of their portraits in the US. Both exhibited their work at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and most major museums and galleries in the US. Bertha also had exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both Bertha and Elena were Fellows of the Royal Society of Art (London), and garnered numerous prizes. Bertha was awarded First Prize by the National Academy of the American Water Color Society one year, and the Grand Prize of the Audubon Society. She was one of the founders of the now defunct World League of Hungarian Artists Abroad (Külföldi Magyar Képzomuvészek Világszövetsége), and received a Gold Medal from the Cleveland Árpád Akadémia in 1963. (Elena also received the Akadémia's gold medal in 1965.) Their work is found in numerous museums. The de Hellebranth sisters were devout Catholics, and this is evident in their many portraits of clerics and religious subjects. Bertha's religious sculptures include not only the Patrona Hungariae which was given to St. Emery Church by the Transylvanian Franciscans in 1957, but also several now in the Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ, as for example a statue of St. Francis and another of Christ. Elena contributed several folk style panels to the Hungarian Pavilion's display at the 1939 New York World's Fair, while Bertha exhibited a couple of sculptures, one entitled "Sleeping Shepherd". Bertha and Elena became American citizens in the 1940's, but as Elena remarked, "While we are Americans, the Hungarian blood still boils through us." And Patricia Fazekas relates, :Mary Mother of God was written for Miss Hellebranth, includes the poem "The Gift" which is in this book Desert Music and Other Poems 1954 WE ALSO HAVE FOR SALE SEPARATEY our inventory number 100591 letter typed on personal letterhead "William Carlos Williams 9 Ridge Road Rutherford, N.J." DATE PUBLISHED: 1954 EDITION: 90
Seller: Princeton Antiques Bookshop, Atlantic City, NJ, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: Tan cloth boards with red and black lettering, tan dust jacket with red and black lettering, 90 pages. Signed by author on ffep. Rare post stroke signature on ffep. "This impressive body of work constitues one of the most important contributions to twentieth century American literature, and it has secured for Dr. Williams most of the major prizes for poetry, including the Dial Award, the National Book Award and the Bollingen Prize. The Desert Music and Other Poems is a rich harvest of the best poems Dr. Williams has written ni the past five years. the freshness, vigor and stature of these poems, which are appearing n his seventy-first year, will reconfirm the majority of American critics in their opinion that Dr. Williams is one of America's truly major poets." -Dust jacket. VG-/Good (light age toning, dust jacket is stained and torn)
Seller: Mullen Books, ABAA, Marietta, PA, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo. 90 pages. Original pale green cloth; printed dust jacket. First edition of Williams's late lyrical masterwork, collecting five-years of work, and signed on the front free endpaper in his characteristic post-stroke shaky hand. The Desert Music shows William's continued evolution of the variable foot, his triadic "step-down-line" developed in the 1940s (particularly in Paterson). He based the concept on the idea that each line corresponds exactly to one single breath unit - unlike cadence, the length of the line corresponds to a colon, so it is an isocolic rhythmical pattern. It was, in his estimation, the culmination of a lifelong search for a new form of prosody. Included in The Desert Music is the superb poem "The Orchestra" ending with one of the poet's greatest condensations of his belief in the power of the artist: "THE BIRDS TWITTER now anew / but a design / surmounts their twittering. / It is a design of a man / that makes them twitter. / It is a design." Wallace A38. (410054). A near-fine copy with light toning to the spine of the jacket; a few small smudges on the cloth
Seller: Riverrun Books & Manuscripts, ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: The 1954 signed/limited. 1 OF 100 COPIES (this being "out-of-series") SIGNED BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS on the limitation page. A very sharp copy to boot. Bright and Near Fine in its duotone cloth and pristine paper spine label. Lacking the glassine dustjacket but includes a clean, Near Fine example of the publisher's light-green slipcase. Octavo, 90 pgs. Signed by Author.
Seller: APPLEDORE BOOKS, ABAA, WACCABUC, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$895.00 + shipping
Description: #1 OF A FIRST EDITION LIMITED TO 100 NUMBERED COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Original green slipcase, H 24.5cm x L 16.25cm, lightly rubbed; several dark spots to side panels; seams are firm. Original glassine dust jacket lightly toned with several short tears. Hardcover: H 24cm x L 16cm. [10], 90 pages. Khaki cloth spine with paper title/author label; light green boards. Light foxing to text block edges. Green endpapers. Copy# and author's blue ink signature "William Carolos Williams" written in a shaky hand on page [5]; some soiling at center fore-edge margin of page 80 but interior leaves otherwise remain clean. Binding retains some crispness. Else a near fine copy in a very good+ dust jacket and very good+ slipcase. DESERT MUSIC was among William Carlos Williams's last original poetry compilations published before his death in 1963, the same year in which he won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his 1962 collection PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL, AND OTHER POEMS.
Seller: David Hallinan, Bookseller, Columbus, MS, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. The Desert Music and Other Poems. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$925.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition. Signed limited edition, #71 of 100, signed post-stroke. In glassine wrapper - has 1" tear top and 2 1/2 X 2/3" tear on spine. In green slipcase with slight shelf wear otherwise VG+.
Seller: Lyons Fine Books, Neenah, WI, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos.. The Desert Music and Other Poems.. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: 90 pp. 8vo, publisher's cloth-backed boards in slipcase. First ediiton; No. 90 of 100 copies signed by Williams. A fine copy in a near fine slipcase.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. THE DESERT MUSIC AND OTHER POEMS. Random House, New York, 1954.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: Cloth and boards, paper spine label. A fine, virtually untouched copy in glassine wrapper and slipcase. First edition, limited issue. One of one hundred numbered copies, specially bound and signed by the author (of 111). An important collection, printing under the guise of the title "Work in Progress," the first form of Williams's immortal "Asphodel." WALLACE A38b.
Seller: William Reese Company - Literature, ABAA, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
William Carlos Williams. THE DESERT MUSIC AND OTHER POEMS. Random House, N.Y., 1954.
Price: US$1400.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A fine, clean and bright hardcover copy. No bumped corners. Jacket/brodart covered is near fine plus. Spine of jacket has aged toned. No tears to jacket with a small nick to top corner fold of rear flap. SIGNED BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS in his post stroke hand. A very nice copy. = WE SHIP ALL BOOKS WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. = WE HAVE BEEN SELLING USED BOOKS FOR OVER 32 YEARS.
Seller: Booklegger's Fine Books ABAA, Park Ridge, IL, U.S.A.
WILLIAMS, William Carlos. THE DESERT MUSIC AND OTHER POEMS. Random House (1954), New York, 1954.
Price: US$1562.50 + shipping
Description: Printed at the Spiral Press. Wallace A38: First Trade Edition (there were also 111 signed and numbered copies). This copy is SIGNED by the author on the first blank in blue ink and dated in 1955 in his shaky hand. Signed copies of the trade edition of this title are elusive. Fine in a Very Good dustwrapper with a small chip on the rear panel
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
Williams, William Carlos. THE DESERT MUSIC AND OTHER POEMS. NY, Random House, 1954, 1954.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo,1st Edition Fine in About Fine D.J.with small crease and tear to the bottom of the rear panel.SIGNED by Williams in a shaky but slow & clear post-stroke hand.as in many instances Signed trade-edition are much scarcer than the signed/ltds.which is true esp. for the later Williams.(HC4)
Seller: NUDEL BOOKS, New York, NY, U.S.A.