Details
POUND, Ezra (editor). The Inquest into the State of Contemporary English Prose. Volumes I-V (of 6) of the series, comprising:
(i) E. POUND. Indiscretions; or, Une Revue de Deux Mondes. Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (260 x 170mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headband and initials. (Very light marginal browning, light spotting on endleaves and last 2 leaves). Original cloth-backed boards, glassine dustwrapper (very light marking and scuffing, extremities slightly rubbed and bumped). FIRST EDITION, NO. 187 OF 300 COPIES. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(ii) Ford Madox FORD (1873-1939). Women & Men. Paris: Contact Editions [letterpress slip tipped over Three Mountains Press imprint], 1923. 8° (260 x 175mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headbands and initials. (Occasional light marking.) Original printed wrappers, later slipcase, unopened (wrappers a little faded and marked). Provenance: Alfred Francis Goldsmith (c.1881-1947, presentation inscription on front free endpaper 'Alfred Goldsmith , gratefully , from Ford Madox Ford , New York 8th Oct 1930'). FIRST EDITION, NO. 80 OF 300 COPIES. PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY FORD to the antiquarian bookseller and bibliographer Goldsmith. Published in Paris p.405; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(iii) B.C. WINDELER and Dorothy Shakespear POUND (artist). Elimus: A Story. Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (263 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title. Woodcut frontispiece, 9 plates and head- and tailpieces after Pound. (Occasional light marking and very light marginal browning.) Original cloth-backed boards, unopened (free endpapers browned, boards lightly spotted). FIRST EDITION, NO. 58 OF 300 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(iv) William Carlos WILLIAMS (1883-1963). The Great American Novel Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (261 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headband and initials. (A few light marginal marks.) Original cloth-backed boards, letterpress spine label (endpapers browned, some spotting on boards and label). FIRST EDITION, NO. 124 OF 300 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; Wallace Williams A6a; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(v) B.M.G. ADAMS. England. Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (260 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title. Original patterned-paper boards, letterpress label on upper board (endpapers browned, a few light marks on boards, corners lightly rubbed). FIRST EDITION, NO. 141 OF 150 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
FIRST EDITIONS, FORD MADOX FORD'S WOMEN & MEN INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. Following an introduction to William Bird (the owner of The Three Mountains Press) by Hemingway, Ezra Pound 'impressed upon Bird that no more reprints of the classics [...] were needed. Do the moderns he urged. Print what authors are writing now' (Published in Paris p.97). Pound proposed a series of six volumes under the title of 'The Inquest into the State of Contemporary English Prose'; Pound was responsible for selecting the works to form the series and persuading the authors to include them, and the series comprised the five works above together with Hemingway's In Our Time (cf. lot 668). Despite the two lesser works (Elimus and England), it is a testament to Pound's remarkable abilities that he was able to assemble a series that included four volumes by major modern writers in a series of six. Loosely inserted is a broadsheet, 8° 'Printer's Notice' about the series (cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23, noting the 'Printer's Notice'). (5)
(i) E. POUND. Indiscretions; or, Une Revue de Deux Mondes. Paris: Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (260 x 170mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headband and initials. (Very light marginal browning, light spotting on endleaves and last 2 leaves). Original cloth-backed boards, glassine dustwrapper (very light marking and scuffing, extremities slightly rubbed and bumped). FIRST EDITION, NO. 187 OF 300 COPIES. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(ii) Ford Madox FORD (1873-1939). Women & Men. Paris: Contact Editions [letterpress slip tipped over Three Mountains Press imprint], 1923. 8° (260 x 175mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headbands and initials. (Occasional light marking.) Original printed wrappers, later slipcase, unopened (wrappers a little faded and marked). Provenance: Alfred Francis Goldsmith (c.1881-1947, presentation inscription on front free endpaper 'Alfred Goldsmith , gratefully , from Ford Madox Ford , New York 8
(iii) B.C. WINDELER and Dorothy Shakespear POUND (artist). Elimus: A Story. Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (263 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title. Woodcut frontispiece, 9 plates and head- and tailpieces after Pound. (Occasional light marking and very light marginal browning.) Original cloth-backed boards, unopened (free endpapers browned, boards lightly spotted). FIRST EDITION, NO. 58 OF 300 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(iv) William Carlos WILLIAMS (1883-1963). The Great American Novel Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (261 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title, woodcut headband and initials. (A few light marginal marks.) Original cloth-backed boards, letterpress spine label (endpapers browned, some spotting on boards and label). FIRST EDITION, NO. 124 OF 300 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; Wallace Williams A6a; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
(v) B.M.G. ADAMS. England. Paris: The Three Mountains Press, 1923. 8° (260 x 165mm). Woodcut printer's device on title. Original patterned-paper boards, letterpress label on upper board (endpapers browned, a few light marks on boards, corners lightly rubbed). FIRST EDITION, NO. 141 OF 150 COPIES. Published in Paris p.405; cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23.
FIRST EDITIONS, FORD MADOX FORD'S WOMEN & MEN INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. Following an introduction to William Bird (the owner of The Three Mountains Press) by Hemingway, Ezra Pound 'impressed upon Bird that no more reprints of the classics [...] were needed. Do the moderns he urged. Print what authors are writing now' (Published in Paris p.97). Pound proposed a series of six volumes under the title of 'The Inquest into the State of Contemporary English Prose'; Pound was responsible for selecting the works to form the series and persuading the authors to include them, and the series comprised the five works above together with Hemingway's In Our Time (cf. lot 668). Despite the two lesser works (Elimus and England), it is a testament to Pound's remarkable abilities that he was able to assemble a series that included four volumes by major modern writers in a series of six. Loosely inserted is a broadsheet, 8° 'Printer's Notice' about the series (cf. Gallup Pound (1983) A23, noting the 'Printer's Notice'). (5)
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