James Stephens, Green Branches, copy 193/500, inscribed, dated, and hand-emended

Description: Green Branches, an inscribed, dated, and hand-emended author's presentation copy of the limited and numbered first edition, copy 193 of 500 James Stephens Dublin and London: Maunsel & Co., Ltd., 1916 Condition: Better than Near Fine This is an inscribed, dated, and hand-emended author's presentation copy of the limited and numbered first edition, copy 193 of 500. Inked in four lines on the half title, the author’s inscription reads: “To | The Rt. Hon. L. A. Waldron | with the compliments of the Author | James Stephens Oct. 16th. 1916”. Additionally, the author hand-emended and initialed line two on page 10. This copy is hand-numbered “193” on the limitation statement. The recipient, Laurence Ambrose Waldron (1858-1923) was an Irish businessman and politician. Most relevant, he was MP for Dublin St. Stephen’s Green from 1904-1910. It was there, in 1916, that “Stephens observed the fighting around St. Stephen’s Green in Easter week 1916; his instant book on the rising, The Insurrection in Dublin (1916), is regarded as the most vivid account by a contemporary observer of the changing moods and scenes of Dublin during the rising, while his poetry collection, Green Branches, published later that year, contains elegies for the rebels.” (Dictionary of Irish Biography) This is a handsome edition. The binding is string-bound olive-tan card wraps illustrated and printed in green on the front cover. The contents are printed on watermarked, laid paper with untrimmed fore and bottom edges. This particular copy is housed in a blue cloth, paper-lined chemise nested within a slipcase featuring a rounded, hubbed, quarter blue Morocco spine over blue cloth sides. Condition is lovely, better than near fine. The binding is entirely complete and immaculately clean, with only trivial hints of wear to extremities. The original binding string is intact. The contents are pristine. The slipcase has done its job protecting the object within, absorbing the toll of age, time and accident. The Morocco spine is unfaded, but scuffed and worn, the cloth sides toned and soiled. As might be expected, the chemise within is clean and bright. James Stephens (1880?- 1950) began to contribute stores to the journal United Irishman (later Sinn Fein) in 1905, “at first anonymously and generally without payment” before becoming a regular contributor from 1907. This led to Stephens’s discovery by George William Russell (to whom Stephens dedicated his first published volume of poetry, 1909’s Insurrections) and gave Stephens “access to Dublin literary circles". Stephens went on to write half a dozen novels and a dozen volumes of poetry, as well as several plays, short stories, retellings of Irish folktales, his historical account of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin and this poetic elegy, and a biographic portrait of the founder of Sinn Fein. In 1925 Stephens relocated to London, reflecting “disillusionment with the political and literary scene in post-civil war Ireland.” In England, he moved in British literary circles and struck up a friendship with James Joyce “who in 1927 left instructions that if he died before finishing Finnegans Wake Stephens was to complete it.” Stephens also became a BBC broadcaster. Though Stephens declared himself an Englishman in 1940 in protest at Irish neutrality in the Second World War, he visited Dublin in 1947 to receive a Doctor in Letters from Trinity College, Dublin. (Dictionary of Irish Biography) Ref #: 007473 CHURCHILL BOOK COLLECTOR We are Churchill Book Collector, a professional bookseller specializing in books and other published works by and about the great twentieth century statesman and acclaimed writer, Sir Winston Churchill. We offer both a singular inventory and approachable expertise. The integrity of our inventory is backed by our membership in the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). Churchill's official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, rightly called Churchill's long life "remarkable and versatile". Statesman, soldier, war correspondent, ardent social reformer, combative cold warrior, painter - Churchill was many things, but perhaps above all a master wordsmith. We’re here to help Churchill’s words find your shelves. Our extensive inventory features some of the rarest material offered – including fine first editions and inscribed copies – as well as reading copies and works about Churchill’s life and time. While we specialize in Churchill, our inventory also includes noteworthy first and collectible editions by other authors, ranging from Xenophon to T. E. Lawrence, spanning exploration and empire to twentieth century fiction. We are able to help with anything from finding individual books to assembling full collections, working closely with individual collectors to identify and accommodate their preferences and budget. We are also able to commission preservation cases and fine bindings. Please contact us if you have books to sell. We buy, and in some cases consign, fine and collectible individual items, as well as whole collections.

Price: 300 USD

Location: San Diego, California

End Time: 2025-01-09T03:18:32.000Z

Shipping Cost: 20 USD