"THE EMOTION OF ART IS IMPERSONAL": FIRST EDITION OF T.S. ELIOT'S THE SACRED WOOD, SIGNED BY ELIOT

ELIOT, T.S. The Sacred Wood. Essays on Poetry and Criticism. London: Methuen, (1920). Octavo, original navy cloth, original dust jacket. $5500.

First edition of this collection of critical essays about poetry, including "Tradition and the Individual Talent," signed by T.S. Eliot on the title page.

The Sacred Wood comprises 20 essays by T.S. Eliot on poetry-related topics including Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dante and Blake. Also included is one of Eliot's most important prose writings, "Tradition and the Individual Talent." According to G. Douglas Atkins, "Eliot's essays, unlike Montaigne's, are observational, attending to what is outside the self. Focusing on 'Tradition and the Individual Talent,' Atkins states that Eliot's work contains opposites such as past and present, faith and doubt, and holds them together in tension. Moreover, he claims that the essay in general and Eliot's essays in particular are a species of 'embodied thought' and that the form and the content of Eliot's writing reflect the 'both/and' mentality which runs through his work" (Brooker, review in Christianity and Literature). Second state dust jacket, with subtitle on front panel and with "Books by A. Clutton-Brock" on rear panel (instead of "Companionable Volumes by E.V. Lucas"). Gallup A5a.

Book near-fine, dust jacket with light wear to corners and head of slightly toned spine, very good. Scarce and desirable signed by Eliot.