Item #1602 [SIGNED] The Double Image. Denise Levertov, as Levertoff.
[SIGNED] The Double Image

[SIGNED] The Double Image

London: The Cresset Press Ltd., 1946. First Edition, First Printing.

12mo (7 1/8 x 4 3/4 inches; 180 x 123 mm), 45, [1] pages in beige cloth, front cover stamped in gold on horizontal brown rectangle and in gold along the spine, in an unclipped, printed dust jacket.

SIGNED by Denise Levertov on the front end paper. This is Levertov's first book, a collection of poems, and the only one to use the original spelling of her name. This copy belonged to Levertov's former husband, Mitchell Goodman. They married in 1947, the year after the publication of this book, and divorced in 1975.

Laid in are two handwritten letters from Goodman to another person in 1987 concerning the sale of this copy. There's also a fragment of a letter to Goodman, who has replied at the bottom of the letter that he would take $150 for the book; a canceled check for that amount is included with the book.

Goodman provides some interesting details about this edition, writing in a letter dated November 12, 1987: "It was published in London by a very good small press when D.L. was 22 or 23 years old. There was a first edition of 750 copies and then no more. Most of the books sold went to English readers, libraries, etc. Long ago, there seem to be very few copies in this country--and none for sale that I've heard of in recent years. (I heard a rumor once from an English collector who said the publisher had scrapped a large number of copies that had been damaged while in storage. It seemed to ring true.)

Goodman further states: "Denise Levertov herself gave me this copy. We're old friends."

Goodman's assertion of a 750-copy print run is at variance with the Levertov bibliography compiled by Robert A. Wilson of the Phoenix Book Shop. Wilson says 13,042 copies were published on December 2, 1946. (Wilson A 1). That seems highly unlikely, since this was a first book by an unknown author. Goodman is probably closer to the mark with 750.

Given the provenance, this is a nice association copy.

CONDITION: Light vertical creases to a couple of preliminary pages and some fading to spine letters. The dust jacket has some foxing or staining to the spine and to the jacket edges. Overall, an attractive copy printed on high-quality paper. Near Fine in a Very Good or better dust jacket. Item #1602

Price: $450.00

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