Sandburg, Carl

Good Morning America

New York, NY: Crosby Gaige, 1928. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Carl Sandburg. "In the evening there is a sunset sonata comes to the cities./ There is a march of little armies to the dwindling of drums./ The skyscrapers throw their tall lengths of walls into black/ bastions on the red west./ The skyscrapers fasten their perpendicular alphabet far/ across the changing silver triangles of stars and/ streets." ("Good Morning, America," first stanza, pg. 3) A volume of poems by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), the iconic American writer whose monumental biography Abraham Lincoln: The War Years won the Pulitzer Prize. This copy is one of a limited edition of 811 copies (of which 750 copies were for sale) hand-signed by Sandburg on the shorter title page. This is copy No. 126/811 as stamped at colophon. Hardcover in red cloth with beautiful Art Deco gilt decorations on covers & spine. A popular trade edition of this collection was also published during the same year (1928). A magnificent production. We note that most of the rag paper (as noted on colophon) leaves in this copy are uncut at side edge, so that most cannot be opened or viewed unless the collector carefully cuts the side edges between leaves. While obviously a flaw or point of incomplete production, we believe that this condition has preserved most leaves in a truly "unread" state & therefore can be considered an interesting, even positive point. We recommend that the collector obtain an inexpensive reading copy (many of which are available) & leave this low-number volume as it is for posterity & ultimate value. Without the extremely rare slipcase. A unique & wonderful Sandburg rarity. In very fine condition with only very slight rubbing & fading to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mild browning to side & lower edges of text block, both untrimmed as issued (see above as to side edge); upper trimmed edge of same with moderate rubbing & a few small, faint scratches. Interior very fine with slight browning of blank paste-downs & endpapers; very slight browning mostly to blank margins of page leaves (those that we are able to fully inspect); slight echo of (fantastic) yellow Art Deco sunburst illustration on title page onto blank opposite page. Very Fine. [Item #4560]

Price: $150.00 save 20% $120.00