Longfellow`s first poem in a printed book - photo 1
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Longfellow`s first poem in a printed book

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$ 1 260
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
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ID 967667
Lot 39 | Longfellow's first poem in a printed book
Longfellow's first poem in a printed book

Boston Prize Poems, 1824

LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). Untitled ode, listed as "II," in Boston Prize Poems and other Specimens of Dramatic Poetry. Edited by Joseph T. Buckingham. Boston: Joseph T. Buckingham at the Office of the New England Galaxy, 1824.



Longfellow's first poem printed in a book—a rare survival in original printed boards, owned by a succession of notable early readers. The present volume contains verses submitted for a contest sponsored by the Boston Theater, with the winner to be recited at a pageant honoring Shakespeare. Charles Sprague took the prize, while Longfellow received an honorable mention—an ironic start for the great poet of 19th-century America, whose entry appears in a section titled "Metrical Compositions. Unsuccessful." The authorship of the poem was unidentified until 1940, when Lawrence Thompson uncovered the truth in an article for The Colophon. The last copy recorded at auction by RBH was in 1974. BAL 12036.



12mo (193 x 120mm). Longfellow poem on pp. 27-32. Contemporary printed boards (a little worn); modern cloth box. Provenance: Philip Carrigain, 1771-1842, New Hampshire general store owner and lawyer (inscriptions) – Asa Fowler, 1811-1885, New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice (inscription) – William Plummer Fowler, 1900-1993, lawyer-poet and his wife Ellen Sprague Fowler (inscription).

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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15.06.2023
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