Poems

London: Faber & Faber, 1930. First edition. Very Good+. First edition, first printing of the poet's first published book. [vi], 79 pp. Bound in publisher's blue printed wraps over cardstock covers. Very Good+ with slight slant to spine, light toning to spine and edges, rubbing at joints with minor bumping to corners. Slight soiling covers and minor foxing to textblock edges. Joints holding well, a nicer copy than usually found of this fragile production. A beautiful copy of Auden's collection of two poems and a play dedicated to Cecil Day-Lewis, Paid on Both Sides. Written in a gnomic style, the writer achieves technical mastery in this early work that captures the zeitgeist of the emerging '30s poets group. Bloomfield and Mendelson A2a.