Collected Poems 1909-1962
Faber and Faber, 1963.
First edition. Inscribed by T.S. Eliot for his colleague Charles Montieth to the front free endpaper four weeks prior to publication, "Inscribed for Charles Montieth, T.S. Eliot 29.viii.63". Loosely laid in is a sheet of headed letter paper from The Parish Church Of St Stephen, South Kensington, where Eliot was a churchwarden and worshipper for the final third of his life. A very good copy in a good dustwrapper, a little wear and tear with a central chip to the spine.
An exceptional association copy, uniting two of the great figures in modern publishing.
T.S. Eliot joined Faber in its infancy of the 1920s, and shaped the editorial direction of the house as it published some of the great literary authors of the coming decades. Charles Montieth joined the firm in 1954, and within three years had published four of the great works of the decade, William Golding's Lord Of The Flies, Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot, John Osborne's Look Back In Anger and Ted Hughes's The Hawk In The Rain.
Eliot and Montieth worked closely at Faber until Eliot's death in 1965. This volume of Eliot's collected poems would be the last published in his lifetime, and "contains all Mr Eliot's poetry to the end of 1962 that he wishes to preserve." Presentation copies are scarce.
PROVENANCE: From the library of Charles Montieth (1921-1995), editor and director at Faber; Rosemary Goad (1928-2021), the first female director of Faber & Faber.
Gallup A74.
Stock ID: 44183
£4,500.00
