Robert Graves (1895-1985) - photo 1
Robert Graves (1895-1985) - photo 2

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Starting price
£ 3 000
Auction dateClassic
09.12.2020 00:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 470254
Lot 247 | Robert Graves (1895-1985)
Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Over the Brazier. 1916

GRAVES, Robert (1895-1985). Over the Brazier. London: The Poetry Bookshop, 1916.



First edition, first impression, of Graves’s first book. A remarkable presentation copy, signed on the title and inscribed by the author to his sister Rosaleen, with numerous annotations in his hand. The marginal additions, written in red pencil beside 24 of the 26 poems in the volume, provide contextual details behind each poem’s composition. For example, to ‘The Poet in the Nursery’, about the author’s chancing upon a volume of poetry amongst his father’s books and stealing it away to his bedroom, the author adds this note: ‘it happened at Wimbledon in the library. The second shelf from the bottom in the bookcase by the window.’ Against the second stanza of ‘The Shadow of Death’, Graves notes the editorial influence of his contemporary Siegfried Sassoon: ‘S.S. rewrote this.’ His sister Rosaleen (‘Ros’) was herself a talented poet and musician, and was described by the author as his ‘best friend’ during his youth (Good-bye to All That, p.57).



Octavo (206 x 150mm). (Spotting, faint stain at lower gutter.) Original yapp-edge buff wrappers with woodcut of the Menin Gate by Claud Lovat Fraser, hand-coloured in blue and red (frayed at extremities, chipped at spine ends. Provenance: Rosaleen Louise Graves (1894-1989; presentation inscription from the author on inside front wrapper: ‘Ros / from / Rob June 26th 1916’); housed in modern quarter morocco box.

Place of origin:Northern Europe
Auction house category:Books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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09.12.2020 – 09.12.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
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