W. H. Auden ⦗Wystan Hugh Auden, 1907–1973⦘
First edition. Tall 8vo. Pp. 57, [1]. Quarter-bound navy blue cloth over ribbed, pale blue paper boards stamped in gilt to spine. Grey and black dust-jacket printed in white, with photographic portrait of Auden to rear panel by Horst Tappe [priced £1.75 to front flap]. With an introductory note by Prof. Edward Mendelson.
Slight bruising to upper board edges, else Very Fine.
Author's last poetry collection, published posthumously, and written upon his return to England in the spring of 1972 and prior to his death on September 29, 1973. By then, Auden had compiled the poems, decided on a title, and had written a dedication.
Accompanied by "Two Don Quixote Lyrics" and an "anti-masque" titled "The Entertainment of the Senses," jointly written with the poet and librettist, Chester Kallman. Some of the poems had already appeared on the pages of The New Yorker, Vogue, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Review of Books.