PUDNEY, John Almanack of Hope London: John Lane, 1944.
4to., burgundy cloth gilt to spine; author's facsimile signature gilt to upper board; upper edge gilt, else untrimmed; in glassine wrapper; marbled endpapers; pp. [viii], 9-30, [ii]; with decorative botanical borders and twelve full-page drawings by John Nash; a couple of minor spots to front free endpaper; upper corner cut from title; otherwise a near-fine copy, a trifle dust soiled to extremities, the glassine a little wrinkled.
Special edition on mould-made paper, one of just 50 numbered copies signed by the author. This no. 30.
A poem for each month of the year, accompanied by an illustration by the botanical illustator John Nash. A contemplative collection of poetry, it was initially written before the invasion of Normandy, and corrected by the poet while he was still in active service. Despite the difficulties, it was a productive time for Pudney, with three other collections published the same year; Ten Summers: Poems 1933–1943, Air Force Poetry (1944) (anthology, edited with Henry Treece), and Flight above Cloud (1944).
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