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ItemID: #111515
Cost: $12,000.00

Let Us Compare Mythologies

Leonard Cohen

FIRST EDITION OF LEONARD COHEN’S FIRST BOOK, INSCRIBED BY HIM

COHEN, Leonard. Let Us Compare Mythologies. Montreal: McGill Poetry Series, (1956). Octavo, original black cloth, uncut, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $12,000.

First edition of Cohen’s first book, inscribed by the gifted poet and musician, “For Paul, in friendship, Leonard Cohen. Jan 3, 1957.”

When Cohen published his first book, Let Us Compare Mythologies, he had already received prestigious awards for his poetry, which, from the first, revealed his abiding interest "in mythology and magic… The first poem in Let Us Compare Mythologies, 'Elegy,'exhibits a number of characteristics which recur throughout his work: his almost magical control and modulation of verbal melody, his sensuous particularity, the empathetic reach of his imagination and his fascination with situations which mingle violence and tenderness to heighten the effect of both. We also see emerge for the first time the theme of the quest—here as usually in Cohen the quest for a lost or unknown God, mysterious, elusive, but compelling" (Pacey, Phenomenon of Leonard Cohen, 5-6). Reportedly, fewer than 400 copies of the first edition were printed (Nadel, 45). With five full-page line illustrations by Freda Guttman. Whiteman A1. Early note laid in.

A fine copy.

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