My Friend Tree. Poems. (Introduction by Edward Dorn). Linocuts by Walter Miller

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1961. First edition of Niedecker's second book, published by the press of the Scottish concrete poet & gardener extraordinaire Ian Hamilton Finlay, with the introduction by Dorn on a separate sheet laid into the book. Inscribed on the inside front wrapper to her later publisher, Jonathan Williams: "Jonathan: My best book so far (Sept. 3, '69). So good of you to keep it on hand. Best wishes, Lorine". In 1968, Williams' Jargon Society published Niedecker's Tenderness & Gristle: The Collected Poems (1936-1966) & in 1985, the most comprehensive edition of her poetry, From This Condensery: The Complete Writings of Lorine Niedecker. In his introduction to My Friend Tree, Dorn deftly sums up Niedecker's achievement: "I like these poems because first they attach an undistractable clarity to the word, and then because they are unabashed enough to weld that word to a freely sought, beautifully random instance - that instance being the only thing place and its content can be: the catch in the seine". Inscribed books by the sibylline poet from Black Hawk Island on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin, are extremely rare. A fine association copy in dust jacket. Oblong 8vo, original wrappers, dust jacket. A fine association copy in dust jacket.