CROSBY, Harry. War Letters. Paris: The Black Sun Press. 1932.
4to. Original calf backed marble boards; gilt lettering to spine with green morocco title labels and raised bands; marbled endpapers and photographic portrait frontispiece of Crosby in uniform; pp. 311, [5]; minimal scuffing of bottom corner of front cover; otherwise extremely well preserved.
First edition, one of a mere 125 copies printed on Navarre paper. Loosely inserted card on which is written: "Dear Rita/It was lovely seeing you yesterday. I wish we met oftener. I hope you’ll enjoy these letters. I always feel a great bond with you but our boys are at rest and saved from the hard things of life. Much love/ R---" (supposedly Henrietta Crosby (1872-1957) mother of Harry and to whom the business card belonged, "Mrs Stephen Van Rensselaer Crosby".
Harry Crosby and his wife Caresse Crosby were responsible for the creation of The Black Sun Press, one of the most integral small presses in Paris in the late 1920s. American expatriates living in France, they championed many of the works of the "Lost Generation" including that of James Joyce with Tales Told of Shem and Shaun, later included in the influential Finnegan's Wake. Their literary cohort incuded the likes of characters such as Ernest Hemingway and D.H Lawrence.
War Letters was pubished one year posthumously, following Harry Crosby's shocking suicide in a pact with his lover. It is formed of letters that were sent home to his family during disturbing and life changing war experiences whilst a volunteer in the American ambulance corps.
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