HUGHES (TED) Autograph poem, inscribed in a prepublication copy of Crow, 1970
88•
HUGHES (TED)
Autograph poem, comprising twenty-five lines beginning: "Who does not approve...", on Crow ("...I admit, Crow is a beast/ That sweetens no feast/ With flesh or with humour./ But gossip & rumour/ Have bitten him bare./ Folly – for a stare,/ Error – for an ear,/ His wings disappear/ From Devon forever./ He will not find better/ But peace & rest/ And a hidden nest –/ Not better, best."), inscribed in a prepublication copy of Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow, FIRST EDITION, publisher's cloth, dust-jacket with design by Leonard Baskin, preserved in felt-lined solander case, 8vo, London, Faber & Faber, 1970
Sold for £875 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • 'I ADMIT, CROW IS A BEAST THAT SWEETENS NO FEAST': Ted Hughes on Crow. This extempore poem – typical of his book inscriptions for friends – was written for his publisher Richard Gilbertson in the Faber first edition of Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow (1970), inscribed "To Richard from Ted 6th Oct 1970": the official publication date of this – possibly his most famous and controversial volume – being 12 October. Gilbertson was a bookseller who ran the private press at Crediton in Devon that published, inter alia, Hughes's Animal Poems (1967) and The Martyrdom of Bishop Farrar (1970).

Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts

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