Cummings, E.E. [Edward Estlin]. Tulips and Chimneys. Thomas Seltzer, 1923.

Price: US$756.50 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition (Firmage A3a). Cummings poem from The New Yorker and review from another periodical laid in, with some transfer to front endpapers, ink name and small dealer bookplate on front endpaper, spine a bit toned, boards lightly rubbed with corners slightly exposed. 1923 Hard Cover. 125 pp. Beige cloth spine with paper label, brown paper over boards. Author's first poetry collection, and second book overall (after The Enormous Room), published before he did away with the capitalization and punctuation in his name. "Cummings expressed ideas through new grammatical usage: he employed verbs as nouns, and other locutions as new linguistic creations (for example, 'wherelings, whenlings / daughters of ifbut offspring of hopefear / sons of unless and children of almost / never shall guess'). He indulged in free play with punctuation and capitalization. Lowercase letters were the rule; capitals were used only for special emphasis; punctuation marks were omitted for ambiguous statement; others were introduced for jarring effects. His use of the lowercase letter 'i' not only became a well-known means of self-reference in his work, but also reflected a role that he created for himself: he was the underling, the unnoticed dreamer, the downtrodden one, the child in the man; yet by asserting his individuality in this way, he thrust himself forward and established a memorable persona. His first manuscript book of poems, 'Tulips & Chimneys,' was a gathering of work in traditional verse forms as well as in his newest unconventional forms of expressiveness. It included lush lyrics from his Harvard years, tender love poems, erotic epigrams, sonnets (some crammed with literary allusion, others merely attempting to depict ordinary scenes of life?on city streets, in cafés, in rooming houses), celebrations of the beauties of the natural world, and harsh satires directed at politicians, generals, professors, the clergy, and national leaders. The publishing world was not yet ready for some of Cummings's poems about drunks, prostitutes, Salvation Army workers, gangsters, or bums. Thus, the original version of Cummings's manuscript did not survive the forbidding selectivity of editors, and it eventually emerged as three books: Tulips and Chimneys (1923), XLI Poems (1925), and (privately printed) & (1925)." - Dictionary of National Biography

Seller: Yesterday's Muse, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, Webster, NY, U.S.A.

E.E. Cummings. Tulips and Chimneys. Thomas Seltzer, 1923.

Price: US$800.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first printing of Cummings' first published collection of poetry. The work is divided into two sections – "Tulips," comprised of experimental poetry, and "Chimneys," featuring more conventional sonnets. From the collection of noted costume designer Edith Head, the most awarded woman in Academy Award history, with her bookplate affixed to the front pastedown. (Firmage A3a) New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1923. Publisher's original quarter buckram cloth over brown paper-covered boars, spine label printed in black; pp. 125. An about very good copy. Binding remains sturdy and square, wear and rubbing to boards with light fraying to extremities, a bit of buckram loss to spine tips. Light chipping to the edges of a few pages, else internally quite clean and fine.

Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.

E. E. Cummings. Tulips and Chimneys. Thomas Seltzer, 1923.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: Hard bound, no dust jacket. 1/4 cloth over brown paper boards with paste-down title to spine edge. First edition. Ex-Duke University Library with the usual markings. Duke University bookplate affixed to front fixed end page. Call numbers to lower spine edge and contents page. Raised stamp to several pages. Pocket affixed to rear end page. Front hinge cracked at the half title page, but holding well. Wear to boards. No additional writing or marks, with pages clean. Book now protected in clear removable mylar wrap. VERY RARE!

Seller: Black Cat Books, Shelter Island, NY, U.S.A.

Cummings, E. E. [Putnam, Samuel]. Tulips and Chimneys. New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1923.

Price: US$1750.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first printing. Publisher's three-quarter brown paper-covered boards, buckram spine, and label to spine printed in black. Very good, with light toning to spine, a touch of staining to spine label, a touch of rubbing to spine ends, bottom right corner of front board worn to boards, heavy offsetting to endpapers, critic and translator Samuel Putnam's bookplate to front pastedown, some light staining to pp. 28-29, and a small closed tear to p. 55. With a laid-in handwritten copy of "A Man of Words and Not of Deeds" by Percy B. Green, written in an unknown hand. Overall, a pleasing copy of Cummings' first collection of poetry. Tulips and Chimneys is Cummings' first poetry collection and second book overall, published after his autobiographical debut novel, The Enormous Room (1922). The book is divided into two sections "Tulips" and "Chimneys"; "Tulips" includes experimental poetry, which would become Cummings' hallmark, while the relatively short "Chimneys" section consists of more conventional sonnets. Some notable poems in the collection include "Thy fingers make early flowers," "All in green went my love riding," and Cummings' longest poem, "Puella Mea." This copy was owned by American critic and translator Samuel Putnam, who was the first to translate Don Quixote in contemporary English in 1949. Putnam authored Paris Was Our Mistress (1947) - a memoir about the American expatriate writers and artists living in Paris during the 20s and 30s. Cummings was an integral part of that so-called Lost Generation and lived in Paris on and off throughout that time.

Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Cummings, E. E.. Tulips and Chimneys. Thomas Seltzer, New York, 1923.

Price: US$2200.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original brown paper boards over buckram cloth with paper title label to spine printed in black. Near Fine with toning to spine and edges, light edge wear to the spine label, several small bits of chipping at edges of boards. Former owner name to front free endpaper and pages toned. A lovely copy.

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