Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Owen, Wilfred. Poems of Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, London, 1920.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 8.5" x 7". Repaired first edition of the Poems of Wilfred Owen, with the 1920 title page. Unfortunately a previous owner cut out the frontispiece portrait of Owen. A high-quality reproduction has been professionally inserted, with a neat, clear line indicatingthe repair. Sunning and discoloration to spine, including the paper label. Small tears to top and bottom of spine, bumps and fraying to corners. Minor damage to the fixed endpaper, likely due to the removal of a bookplate. An inscription from a previous owner on the free endpaper documents one reader's reception of Owen's poetry shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into the war: 'To, R.L.P., Anno Domini - Dec 21, 1941. Out of this embattled time, these crucial hurts, this ageless agony, / Surely will emerge, the long sought, the lovely, and enlightened age. Robert F. Pepper'. Offsettingon the half-title, browning of half-title, discoloration to the verso acknowledgments and the title page where they faced the tissue guard of the missing frontispiece. Introduction by Sigfried Sassoon, Preface, Contents, Poems, 23 poems over 33 pages, colophon of Morrison and Gibb, Ltd, Edinburgh, flyleaf, endpaper. The fixed endaper has another inscription, 'R.F.P. "Soljaus" LagunoChapala'.
Seller: B Street Books, ABAA and ILAB, San Mateo, CA, U.S.A.
OWEN, Wilfred.. Poems. With an introduction by Siegfried Sassoon.. Chatto & Windus, London, 1920.
Price: US$1729.17 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition, first impression. Large 8vo. Original publishers red cloth with paper-label to spine. xii, pp 33. Complete with half-title; frontispiece photographic portrait of Owen in uniform, printed in sepia, with the tissue guard present; title-page; introduction by Siegfried Sassoon; short preface by Owen; contents; second half-title; printer's name on reverse of p. 33. Deckled edges. End papers tanned Sunning to spine and onto the covers. Edges bumped. Cloth slightly warped on cover. Mild soiling to boards Rear hinge exposed Title label chipped Head and tail cap chipped Tissue guard browned - offset on photogravure exposed inner hinge in places Internally an excellent copy. The quality of the paper was clearly of a high standard as the contents remain bright, clean and clear. First edition, first impression, of perhaps the greatest collection of First World War poetry. This slim volume, promoted and published by Sassoon after Owen's death and backed by Edith Sitwell, contains all Owen's best known poems, including "Dulce et decorum est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility" and "Strange Meeting".
Seller: Henry Pordes Books Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Wilfred Owen. Poems by Wilfred Owen. Chatto & Windus, London, 1920.
Price: US$1999.99 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Poems by Wilfred Owen; with an introduction by Siegfried Sassoon published by Chatto & Windus, London, 1920,1st edition. red cloth, spine title label, original portrait frontispiece. Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of the best British poetry on World War I, composed nearly all of his poems in slightly over a year, from August 1917 to September 1918. In November 1918 he was killed in action at the age of 25, one week before the Armistice. Only five poems were published in his lifetime three in the Nation and two that appeared anonymously in the Hydra, a journal he edited in 1917 when he was a patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. Shortly after his death, seven more of his poems appeared in the 1919 volume of Edith Sitwell's annual anthology, Wheels: a volume dedicated to his memory, and in 1919 and 1920 seven other poems appeared in periodicals. Almost all of Owen s poems, therefore, appeared posthumously: importantly in the bestselling collection Poems (1920), edited by Siegfried Sassoon with the assistance of Edith Sitwell, contains 23 poems (Poetry Foundation) "some cloth fading, marks, spine chipping top and bottom , a little foxing end pages, previous owners name "James L Mclane jr-", browning title page,a few minor marks and spots" good for age and such a RARE volume, additional photos available upon request.
Seller: Sheapast Art and Books, Sherman Oaks, CA, U.S.A.
OWEN, Wilfred. POEMS With an introduction by Siegfried Sassoon. Chatto & Windus, 1920.
Price: US$2561.73 + shipping
Description: First edition. 8vo. Rebound in modern red morocco, gilt titles to spine. A very good copy indeed, with some light spotting. Frontispiece photogravure of Owen. The author's first collection of poems, published following his death in action on the Sambre Canal in 1918, just a week before Armistice. The book is regarded as containing some of the finest and certainly the most resonant poetry to come out of the Great War. "Owen. had the genius to come through the rage and frustration or even the dearth of feeling of many war poets and so to write the first understanding poems about the shell-shocked, about gas, about the enemy" (Cyril Connolly - The Modern Movement). Connolly 36
Seller: Jonkers Rare Books, Henley on Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Wilfred Owen. Poems. Chatto & Windus, London, 1920.
Price: US$3202.16 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: London, Chatto & Windus, 1920. First Edition. First Impression. Hardback. Original red cloth, printed paper label to spine. Lacking the dustjacket. Photogravure portrait frontispiece with tissue guard. Contemporary ownership stamp and inscriptions to endpapers. Sunning to spine and onto covers, slight wear to spine ends and tips, a couple of small bumps to board edges, offsetting and a tiny spot of rippling to rear pastedown. Perhaps the greatest collection of First World War poetry. This slim volume, promoted and published by Sassoon after Owen?s death and backed by Edith Sitwell, contains all Owen?s best known poems, including 'Dulce et decorum est', 'Insensibility', 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', 'Futility' and 'Strange Meeting'. [8791, Hyraxia Books].
Seller: Hyraxia Books. ABA, ILAB, Hutton Cranswick, United Kingdom
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Printed by Morrison and Gibb Ltd. Edinburgh. First Edition. 6 7/8 inches x 8 6/8 inches; half-title; frontispiece photographic portrait of Owen in his uniform, printed in brown tones, with the tissue guard present; title-page; introduction by Siegfried Sassoon; short preface by Owen; contents; second half-title; [12] pp., pp. 1-33, with printer's name on the reverse of p. 33. Red cloth over boards, printed paper title label on the spine. The tissue guard shows some age-related tanning, with slight offsetting to the title-page; light tanning to endpapers, half-title, page edges; light wear to the spine ends, light wear to the title labe; a small buckle to the cloth on the upper left of the back cover, some light fading, tanning to the spine and cover margins. A very good copy of the author's rare, fragile, and only book. Connolly, The Modern Movement 36. Contents: Titles of the Poems: Strange Meeting, Greater Love, Apologia pro Poemate Meo, The Show, Mental Cases, Parable of the Old Men and the Young, Arms and the Boy, Anthem for Doomed Youth, The Send-off, Insensibility, Dulce et Decorum est, The Sentry, The Dead-Beat, Exposure, Spring Offensive, The Chances, S. I. W., Futility, Smile, Smile, Smile, Conscious, A Terre, Wild with Regrets, Disabled. "For the preparation of this book thanks are primarily due to Miss Edith Sitwell. [-]" (-From the reverse of the half-title).
Seller: Peter Keisogloff Rare Books, Inc., Brecksville, OH, U.S.A.
OWEN, Wilfred; SASSOON, Siegfried (editor).. Poems.. London Chatto & Windus, 1920.
Price: US$10587.50 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, one of 1000 copies; 4to (22 x 17.5 cm); portrait frontispiece, page stock just a little toned as usual, partial offsetting to the endpapers; publisher's red cloth, paper title label to spine, with the dust jacket, couple of light marks to the upper board but a notably fresh copy in the dust jacket which has had a little internal repair and some professional work on two or three small chips. Only 1000 copies of this monumental collection were printed, with a second impression coming out the following year. And it is probably worth noting that jackets of the second impression are very similar to those on the first. The key therefore is to note the condition of the spine of the book itself. Crucially to be correct it must be entirely unfaded as in this example. Owen is, if not universally, then certainly very widely regarded as the best of all the Great War poets. He famously died in the very last days of the war having not published a book. Sassoon knew how good these poems were, and ensured they saw publication.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Owen, Wilfred. Poems with an Introduction by Siegfried Sassoon. Chatto & Windus, London, 1920.
Price: US$17500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Photogravure frontispiece portrait, with tissue guard. ix, 33 pp. 1 vols. Small 4to. In the RARE Dust Jacket. First edition of Owen's posthumously published first book. One of the landmarks of Twentieth Century poetry and unquestionably the finest collection of poems to come out of the Great War, including "Strange Meeting", "Anthem For Doomed Youth", "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "Futility". Owen was killed at the Front a week before the Armistice in November 1918. As Owen's Preface, found among his papers after his death, so poignantly observes: "This book is not about heroes. English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, dominion or power, except War. Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry. The subject of it is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.". Keynes, B2; Connolly 100, 36; Hayward, 337 Red cloth, with printed paper spine label. Usual paste offset to flyleaves. Fine copy in the original dust jacket, spine panel faintly toned with a small nail chip at center, and smaller loss at foot (not touching imprint). An outstanding copy of a book that is almost invariably worn, and almost never seen in jacket Photogravure frontispiece portrait, with tissue guard. ix, 33 pp. 1 vols. Small 4to
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.