Self-Communion, a Poem

London: Privately Printed [by R. Clay and Sons], 1900 Preface by Thomas J. Wise. With two unnumbered facsimile plates (Note: this edition seems to call for two plates replicating the first two pages of the manuscript, but the two plates in this copy both replicate the first page of the manuscript, possibly due to a publisher error). First edition. One of 30 copies. 47 pp. Unbound sheets, printed in black. Near fine, with a few small closed tears to pages, and occasional light soiling. Overall, a very scarce publication, with WorldCat locating only three copies. Housed in a green custom clamshell box. "Self-Communion" is a profound and soul-searching poem by Anne Brontë (Jan. 20, 1820 - May 28, 1849). In Thomas J. Wise's preface, he writes, "Self-Communion is not one of those juvenile efforts, written in a microscopic hand, which were produced in considerable numbers by Brontë children . . . The poem is, on the contrary, a mature effort. . ." Notably, a section of the poem is believed to make reference to the growing distance between Anne and her sister, Emily. Anne completed the poem in April of 1848, the same year that she finished writing her second and final novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Just one year later, at the age of 29, she passed away from tuberculosis. Thomas J. Wise (1859 - 1937) was a renowned bibliographer and book collector, whose Ashley Library was an important repository of English printed books and manuscripts. He was also a notorious forger, whose illegal activities were first exposed by John W. Carter and Henry Graham Pollard in An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets (1937). . First Edition. Near Fine.