Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
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.
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.