ELIOT, T.S. Four Quartets. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company. [1943.]
8vo. Original black cloth, title in gilt to spine, with first state dust wrapper designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, with “$2.00” price in upper corner of front flap, rear flap blank, and nine titles listed in bold on back panel ending with “Old Possum’s…”; pp. [10], 3-39, [1]; gilt lettering a little dulled, wrapper lightly toned as usual, with closed tear to lower edge of rear panel, otherwise a very good copy.
First edition, first printing, one of only 788 copies with the words “first American edition” on the verso of the title page.
Following Faber’s separate publications of the four parts in 1940 and 1941, this American edition was the first to present the poems together under their now-familiar title. The initial print run consisted of 4,165 copies, but due to the poor quality of the printing, the publisher destroyed all but 788 copies, which were distributed to maintain copyright while the work was reprinted.
Although Eliot’s Four Quartets are studied and lauded for their structural and philosophical complexity, these great poems, each meditating upon time and memory, faith and history, clearly struck a chord with early readers, offering consolation in the face of the harsh realities of the Second World War.
Gallup A43a.
#2121813