![MERRILL, James (1926-1995). Jim's Book. A Collection of Poems and Short Stories. New York: Privately Printed [by the Plimpton Press], 1942.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/NYR/2002_NYR_01098_0218_000(050426).jpg?w=1)
Details
MERRILL, James (1926-1995). Jim's Book. A Collection of Poems and Short Stories. New York: Privately Printed [by the Plimpton Press], 1942.
8o. Original crimson cloth-backed boards, gilt-lettered on cover, top stained red (very minor soiling at top of front cover).
FIRST EDITION OF MERRILL'S FIRST BOOK. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO ONE OF HIS INSTRUCTORS AT THE LAWRENCEVILLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL on the front free endpaper: "'When I am dead I hope it will be said: His sins were scarlet but his books were read'--all but this one. (Epigram courtesy of Hilaire Belloc). Merry Christmas and so forth. Thank you for all the coca-cola & cookies and hot chocolate and the poem about Peg which I am yet to receive. The full signature will enable you to get a high price for this item: James Ingram Merrill. January 5, 1944." Merrill's first book was privately printed by his father, Charles Merrill, a founder of the Wall Street brokerage firm of Merrill, Lynch. At the time, Merrill was a sixteen year old student at Lawrenceville, the New Jersey prep school. Merrill displays his virtuosity with traditional forms, a skill which he would later manipulate to create elegant tensions between closed and open verse forms.
The number of copies printed of Merrill's first book has never been established. While uninscribed copies and copies with later inscriptions are occasionally offered, this is the only copy with a contemporary inscription to appear at auction. First Printings of American Authors 2:257.
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FIRST EDITION OF MERRILL'S FIRST BOOK. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED TO ONE OF HIS INSTRUCTORS AT THE LAWRENCEVILLE PREPARATORY SCHOOL on the front free endpaper: "'When I am dead I hope it will be said: His sins were scarlet but his books were read'--all but this one. (Epigram courtesy of Hilaire Belloc). Merry Christmas and so forth. Thank you for all the coca-cola & cookies and hot chocolate and the poem about Peg which I am yet to receive. The full signature will enable you to get a high price for this item: James Ingram Merrill. January 5, 1944." Merrill's first book was privately printed by his father, Charles Merrill, a founder of the Wall Street brokerage firm of Merrill, Lynch. At the time, Merrill was a sixteen year old student at Lawrenceville, the New Jersey prep school. Merrill displays his virtuosity with traditional forms, a skill which he would later manipulate to create elegant tensions between closed and open verse forms.
The number of copies printed of Merrill's first book has never been established. While uninscribed copies and copies with later inscriptions are occasionally offered, this is the only copy with a contemporary inscription to appear at auction. First Printings of American Authors 2:257.