LARKIN, Philip. Collected Poems. London: The Marvell Press and Faber and Faber. 1988.
8vo. Original dark olive cloth lettered in white to the spine, in the unclipped dustwrapper with Sue Linney's drawing of Larkin to the front panel; a few tiny marks to the spine of the wrapper; otherwise, a fine copy in like wrapper.
A fine first printing of the first Collected Larkin.
Edited by Larkin's friend and fellow poet, Anthony Thwaite, this first Collected Larkin prints all of the published and a selection of previously unpublished poems in chronological order of composition. It was later ousted by a less comprehensive, if more immediately user-friendly edition, also edited by Thwaite, which presents the poet's four published collections intact, with fewer uncollected poems in appendices. Larkin arranged his collections with great care, so it's good to have the poems printed that way, but this edition, including dates of composition at the foot of each poem (from the poet's manuscript notebooks), allows us to see the development of the poet’s voice with greater clarity, and includes an appendix listing the contents of the original volumes.
Published on 10th October 1988, 11,563 copies of the first impression were printed, a second impression of 8460 copies printed later the same month, and another, of 12,700, the following month.
Bloomfield A19.
SKU: 2124080