YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). The Collected Works in Verse and Prose . Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1908. 7 volumes, 8° (223 x 144mm). Half-titles, titles in red and black. Portrait frontispieces by Emery Walker after John Singer Sargeant, Charles Shannon, A. Mancini, and Jack B. Yeats in volumes I, III, V, and VII. Volumes I-VI original vellum-backed cloth, volume VII original hessian-backed boards, lettered in gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut. (Vellum a little discoloured, vol. I upper hinge cracked, vol. V spine speckled, vol. VII spine darkened, and with short splits to joints). Provenance : VOLUME I INSCRIBED IN AUTOGRAPH WITH THE FULL TEXT OF 'A DRINKING SONG', beginning 'Wine comes in at the mouth', and signed by Yeats. With two letters of related interest: the first a typed letter from Arthur WAUGH (1866-1943), on Chapman & Hall stationery, from London, 19 November 1908, 4°, one page, to A.H. Bullen, discussing the difficulties of selling the Chapman and Hall issue of the Shakespeare Head Yeats: 'I really do not frankly believe that we shall ever get rid of the sets, except through the remainder market in a few years' time. Nevertheless ... I am very glad to have had the books on our list. If the booksellers were anything but the most ignorant class of tradesmen they would contrive somehow or another to push such books into the libraries.' The second letter from A.H. BULLEN on Shakespeare Press Stationery, from Stratford-on-Avon, 29 December 1908, 8°, 2 pages, integral blanks, to Mr. [?]Maris, discussing the possibility of publishing another 5-volume edition of Yeats's works. AN INSCRIBED COPY OF THE FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, with 2 letters relating to its publication. Yeats's Collected Works was published by Arthur Bullen's Shakespeare Head Press in an edition of 1,060 copies. Of this edition, 250 were reserved for Chapman & Hall to sell, and were differentiated by the words 'Chapman & Hall' appearing on the title-page and spine. However, as Waugh notes, sales by Chapman & Hall were disappointingly slow. Bullen subsequently issued his unsold Shakespeare Head copies in a remainder binding of hessian-backed boards (see vol. VII in the present set). Tomkinson p. 229, 4; Wade 75-82. Yeats records that he composed his 'drinking song' ('Wine comes in at the mouth') on 17 February 1910 for Lady Gregory. It is an adaptation from Goldoni's La Locandiera , which Lady Gregory was translating at the time. Also included in the lot are: Prospectus of the Collected Works of W.B. Yeats . Stratford-on-Avon: The Shakespeare Head Press, [1907]. 8°. 4ll. Original printed wrappers, unopened (a little spotted); an unsewn printed bifolium wrapper for the Prospectus ; and a single printed leaf bearing the text ('Publisher's Note') of pp. 3-4 of the Prospectus . (10)
YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). The Collected Works in Verse and Prose . Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1908. 7 volumes, 8° (223 x 144mm). Half-titles, titles in red and black. Portrait frontispieces by Emery Walker after John Singer Sargeant, Charles Shannon, A. Mancini, and Jack B. Yeats in volumes I, III, V, and VII. Volumes I-VI original vellum-backed cloth, volume VII original hessian-backed boards, lettered in gilt, top edges gilt, others uncut. (Vellum a little discoloured, vol. I upper hinge cracked, vol. V spine speckled, vol. VII spine darkened, and with short splits to joints). Provenance : VOLUME I INSCRIBED IN AUTOGRAPH WITH THE FULL TEXT OF 'A DRINKING SONG', beginning 'Wine comes in at the mouth', and signed by Yeats. With two letters of related interest: the first a typed letter from Arthur WAUGH (1866-1943), on Chapman & Hall stationery, from London, 19 November 1908, 4°, one page, to A.H. Bullen, discussing the difficulties of selling the Chapman and Hall issue of the Shakespeare Head Yeats: 'I really do not frankly believe that we shall ever get rid of the sets, except through the remainder market in a few years' time. Nevertheless ... I am very glad to have had the books on our list. If the booksellers were anything but the most ignorant class of tradesmen they would contrive somehow or another to push such books into the libraries.' The second letter from A.H. BULLEN on Shakespeare Press Stationery, from Stratford-on-Avon, 29 December 1908, 8°, 2 pages, integral blanks, to Mr. [?]Maris, discussing the possibility of publishing another 5-volume edition of Yeats's works. AN INSCRIBED COPY OF THE FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, with 2 letters relating to its publication. Yeats's Collected Works was published by Arthur Bullen's Shakespeare Head Press in an edition of 1,060 copies. Of this edition, 250 were reserved for Chapman & Hall to sell, and were differentiated by the words 'Chapman & Hall' appearing on the title-page and spine. However, as Waugh notes, sales by Chapman & Hall were disappointingly slow. Bullen subsequently issued his unsold Shakespeare Head copies in a remainder binding of hessian-backed boards (see vol. VII in the present set). Tomkinson p. 229, 4; Wade 75-82. Yeats records that he composed his 'drinking song' ('Wine comes in at the mouth') on 17 February 1910 for Lady Gregory. It is an adaptation from Goldoni's La Locandiera , which Lady Gregory was translating at the time. Also included in the lot are: Prospectus of the Collected Works of W.B. Yeats . Stratford-on-Avon: The Shakespeare Head Press, [1907]. 8°. 4ll. Original printed wrappers, unopened (a little spotted); an unsewn printed bifolium wrapper for the Prospectus ; and a single printed leaf bearing the text ('Publisher's Note') of pp. 3-4 of the Prospectus . (10)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
