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Hart Crane. Three Poems by Hart Crane from The Bridge.
Bremen, Maine and New York City: Red Angel Press, 2004.
Oblong quarto, original ecru cloth lettered in silver, original prospectus. $1000.
First edition of designer and printer Ronald Keller’s inventive tribute to American
poet Hart Crane, one of one hundred signed copies. Keller reprints three poems
from Crane’s colossal 1930 sequence
The Bridge
— “Cutty Sark,” “Atlantis,” and
“To Brooklyn Bridge” — all dealing with the Brooklyn Bridge and the dreams it
inspires: “How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest / The seagull’s wings shall
dip and pivot him, / Shedding white rings of tumult, building high / Over the
chained bay waters Liberty —.” The first two poems are illustrated with images of
the Brooklyn Bridge, “each printed in six colors in a style reminiscent of early 20th
century poster graphics.” The final poem, Crane’s soaring dedication “To Brooklyn
Bridge,” is printed on the deck of the bridge itself, within a paper sculpture that
pops up when the final page is turned. A fine copy of a beautifully executed artist’s
book, encompassing Crane’s “arching path / Upward, veering with light.”
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Pantheon or Heathen Mythology in Cards, Calculated for the Instruction of Youth.
London: Willerton’s Toy Shop, circa 1775.
Fifty-four engraved cards, in original marbled-paper slipcase. $4500.
Extraordinary complete set of pictorial cards designed to introduce children to
Greek and Roman mythology, containing the title card, an advertisement for
Willerton’s Toy Shop on Bond Street (featuring a view of Mount Olympus), and
depictions of fifty-two mythological figures and scenes. The title card promises
that “even Persons of a Mature Age may find Amusement in the Perusal” of these
cards, which represent not only the obvious Olympians and epic heroes, but also
colorful supporting players such as Io, Momus, and Hyacinthus. All cards are in
fine condition, though “Bacchus” has been hand-colored by a previous owner,
evidently at an early date. A very scarce production: only the British Museum and
the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton hold sets, both incomplete, of this
delightful example of popular neoclassicism.
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