£200
FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, 8vo, pp. [x], 119, [1]. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Some spotting to textblock edge. Cloth sunned, particularly to spine. Inscription to flyleaf: ‘For Mrs Irene Brown from William Empson’, contemporary compliments slip loosely inserted.
An inscribed copy of the first edition of poet and critic William Empson's Collected Poems; loosely inserted is a short note from Empson's University of Sheffield colleague (and the recipient's cousin) Dr Gilbert Kennedy wishing the recipient a happy birthday. Kennedy composed the music for Empson's masque 'The Birth of Steel' for the Queen's 1954 visit to Sheffield, the text of which is printed to pp. 85-89 of this volume.
