North of Boston Robert Frost Other Poetry

This is an unusually well-preserved copy of the first American issue of a book length work by the man who would become the 20th century's most iconic American poet. Early in 1915, 150 sets of sheets of the British first edition were sold by Frost's English publisher, David Nutt, to the American firm Henry Holt and Company. These were supplied with a cancellans Holt title leaf and bound in cloth-backed tan boards with a printed title author label on the front cover for sale in the United States. From this humble beginning, Frost began his relationship with the firm that would publish his works in America for the rest of his life, and with the American public, who would elevate the poet to fame. So surprisingly strong was the initial reception of these first 150 imported copies that Holt "quickly printed 1,300 more copies of their own; a year later, after four printings, the book had reached 20,000 sales - almost unheard of for a book of poetry."Condition of this first U.S. issue is very good plus overall. The inherently fragile binding is square and tight with only minor shelf wear to extremities, mostly confined to the spine heel and lower corners, and minor soiling and toning to the gray card boards. The spine and front cover paper labels are fully intact, the spine label mildly scuffed and toned. The contents are inevitably age-toned, but otherwise clean; we find no soiling and no spotting. We have left intact the sole previous ownership mark - a name, in pencil, on the front free endpaper recto. The binding is protected beneath a clear, removable, mylar cover.Iconic American poet Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), the quintessential poetic voice of New England, was actually born in San Francisco and first published in England. Ironically, a 1912 move to England with his wife and children "the place to be poor and to write poems" catalyzed his recognition as a noteworthy American poet. A Boy s Will was published in 1913. A convocation of critical recognition, introduction to other writers, and creative energy supported the English publication of Frost s second book, North of Boston, in 1914, after which "Frost s reputation as a leading poet had been firmly established in England, and Henry Holt of New York had agreed to publish his books in America." Publication of Frost s books in America began with North of Boston; when publishing Frost s first two books, Holt reversed the order of British publication, publishing the 150 copies (of which this is one) in mid-February 1915, followed swiftly in late March 1915 by Holt's publication of the first edition actually printed in the U.S. The U.S. first edition of A Boy s Will came in April 1915. North of Boston opens with the famous poems "The Pasture" and "Mending Wall" and was swiftly hailed by important reviews and validated by popularity with the reading public. Accolades met his return to America at the end of 1914 and 1915, when this book was issued in America, was a heady year, marked by expanding recognition and possibilities. By 1917 a move to Amherst "launched him on the twofold career he would lead for the rest of his life: teaching whatever "subjects" he pleased at a congenial college and "barding around," his term for "saying" poems in a conversational performance." (ANB) By 1924 he had won the first of his eventual four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry (1931, 1937, and 1943). Frost spent the final decade and a half of his life as "the most highly esteemed American poet of the twentieth century" with a host of academic and civic honors to his credit. Two years before his death he became the first poet to read in the program of a U.S. Presidential inauguration (Kennedy, January 1961). References: Crane A3.1; Parini, Robert Frost, p.171 First edition, second issue (for American publication).