"IT'S THE LAST BOOK OF POEMS OF MINE—AND VERS LIBRE": PRESENTATION COPY OF D.H. LAWRENCE'S NATURE POEMS, INSCRIBED TO HIS FRIEND, A MEXICAN INTELLECTUAL AND RARE BOOK DEALER

LAWRENCE, D.H. Birds, Beasts and Flowers. New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1923. Octavo, modern half black morocco gilt, raised bands, uncut and partially unopened. $4800.

First edition, presentation copy, boldly inscribed and signed by Lawrence to his friend, the Mexican intellectual and rare book dealer Eduardo Rendon: "Eduardo Rendón from D.H. Lawrence."

This early book of Lawrence's poetry features poems, many of an erotic nature, on natural subjects, including fruits, trees, flowers, animals, and birds: "The proper way to eat a fig, in society,/ Is to split it in four, holding it by the stump,/ And open it, so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist, honied,/ heavy-petalled four-petalled flower./ Then you throw away the skin/… After you have taken off the blossom with your lips…/ Every fruit has its secret." Lawrence also here includes his poetry of America: "You have cajoled the souls of millions of us/ America…". "His most original contribution to the art of verse is Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), in which he creates an unprecedented poetry of nature, based on his experiences of the Mediterranean scene and the southwestern United States" (Britannica).

A fine inscribed presentation copy with most interesting provenance.