MERRILL, James. First Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.
MERRILL, James. First Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.

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MERRILL, James. First Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951.

8o. Original crimson cloth; printed dust jacket (very slightly faded). Provenance: Robert Isaacson (presentation inscription).

FIRST EDITION of Merrill's first commercially printed book, number 366 of 990 copies. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY MERRILL TO ROBERT ISAACSON on the front free endpaper: "For Robert -- without whom Jimmy 4 Dec 1951 Rome." The year before First Poems was published, twenty-four year old Merrill traveled to Europe with various companions, including Isaacson. Merrill describes a tryst with Isaacson in Rome in his memoir A Different Person (New York, 1993, pp.134-5). First Printings of American Authors 2:257.

[With:] MERRILL, James. Angel. Stonington, CT: Privately Printed, 1959. Narrow 12o. Printed broadside on pink paper. LIMITED EDITION, one of 180 copies, this copy signed by Merrill. A SCARCE BROADSIDE. First Printings of American Authors 2:258.

[With:] 4 eighteenth-century engravings of Italian rennaissance sculpures laid-in.

[With:] MERRILL, James. Pen-and-ink sketch of a devil-like man in a business suit, signed "J.M." (a bit creased).

[With:] Photocopy of a Merrill poem about "Louise" laid-in, with pencilled note "'Yukh!' As the late Louise would have said..." (3)

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