A Season In Hell : Rimbaud [ Delmore Schwartz , New Directions ]
$200
In stock
Description
Rare First US Edition of A Season In Hell by Arthur Rimbaud , translated by Delmore Schwartz for New Directions
Rimbaud, Arthur. Schwartz, Delmore, trans. A Season In Hell. New Directions : Norfolk, CT. 1939. First separately published English translation. One of 780 copies.
Written at the promising start of Delmore Schwartz’s career, this translation of A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud marked the first appearance of the full poem series in book form in the United States. The first partial English translation appeared as an excerpt in The Dial in 1920 but in addition to its incompleteness, Schwartz suspected his own effort to bring Rimbaud to an anglophone audience would be more accurate.
Printed in both English and French on opposing pages this wonderfully bound edition marks one of the early publications from New Directions during its first decade of operation. Founded by poet, publisher and editor James Laughlin while he was still a student at Harvard, the still extant company was originally housed in his dorm room and a barn on his aunt’s estate in Norfolk (where this book was printed) before opening its offices in New York city.
Delmore Schwartz also appeared in Laughlin’s third edition of the New Directions in Poetry and Prose anthology also published by New Directions in 1938.
8vo, 99pp, quarter bound linen cloth with red paper boards and title plate. Corners bumped. Some sunning to board top edges and mild wear to back board. Bookblock darkened, pastedowns, endpapers and title page foxed. Some contemporary pencil underlines, pages otherwise clean. Good condition.
If you liked this book, you might also like this limited edition of Rilke’s Sonnets for Orpheus printed by the Kelly-Winterton Press.
