“IF I SHOULD DIE, THINK ONLY THIS OF ME: THAT THERE’S SOME CORNER OF A FOREIGN FIELD THAT IS FOR EVER ENGLAND”
BROOKE, Rupert. 1914 & Other Poems. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1915. Small octavo, original blue cloth, original paper spine label, uncut.
First edition of Brooke’s important second book of verse.
Published in an edition of 1000 copies in June 1915, this volume adds 27 poems to Brooke’s “war sonnets” that were published in the December 1914 issue of the journal New Numbers. With his sudden death at age 27 in April 1915, Brooke was “elevated into a tragic figure of almost mythical stature” (Hamilton, 70). Brooke’s “‘1914’ Sonnets had so exactly voiced the sentiments of the moment, that the poet was immediately raised to a pinnacle of national fame” (Keynes, 13). He “remains in the general memory as the the typical poet of the war, because of his radiant philosophy and his Byronic death in one of ‘the isles of Greece” (Baugh et al., 1581). Without frontispiece portrait. Without scarce original dust jacket. Keynes 6. Reilly, 70. Owner signatures, occasional ink markings. With additional spine label affixed to rear free endpaper.
Very short closed tears to top edges of several leaves. Light toning to spine label. A near-fine copy.