Breve Suma, 1966-1969

Collection of verse written by prolific Uruguayan poet, journalist, essayist and translator Enrique Héctor Fierro Podestá (1941-2016). The work was written when the poet was in his mid-20s teaching in Montevideo — and was published ten years later when he was living in exile in Mexico. He subsequently served as director of the Biblioteca Nacional de Uruguay (1985–1989) and as a professor at the University of Texas, Austin.

The frontispiece is a full-page original illustration by Mexican artist and curator Tomás Parra (born 1937). The image is reproduced using the same printing method as the type: Rex Rotary duplicator printing, an early office-machine copying technology that produced uneven impressions resembling low-quality silkscreen.

This copy inscribed by the author to bisexual British poet, novelist and essayist Stephen Spender (1909-1985), a close friend of W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood and a leading figure of British literature of the second half of the 20th century.

INSCRIPTION: In blue ink on inside of front board: "Para Stephen Spender, / poeta entrañabla, / con un abrazo fuerte / y contra la distancia / de / Enrique Fierro / Mexico, 1977"

CONDITION: Minor wear to margins of boards; minor creases to boards & puckering to leaves, both a result of the artisanal printing & binding process (as opposed to signs of damage).