War Is Kind First Edition - Stephen Crane - Bauman Rare Books

War Is Kind

Stephen CRANE

Item#: 75512 We're sorry, this item has been sold

War Is Kind

“DO NOT WEEP, MAIDEN, FOR WAR IS KIND”: FIRST EDITION OF STEPHEN CRANE’S WAR IS KIND, 1899

CRANE, Stephen. War Is Kind. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1899. Octavo, original pictorial gray paper boards, printed paper spine label, uncut.

First edition of Crane’s second volume of poetry, the last published during the life of this writer who stands out as “the chameleon of his literary generation,” with cover design and illustrations by Will Bradley in an Art Nouveau style, scarce in original gray paper boards.

War is Kind is the second, and last, of only two volumes of poetry published by Crane in his lifetime. “Crane’s ‘imaginative world of menace, violence and isolation became his milieu of poetic expression… Experimenting with allegory, realism, symbolism, naturalism and imagism, Crane was the chameleon of his literary generation” (American Literature). The poems in this scarce first edition are witness to the influence and genius of Crane, who is “almost the only American poet of the 1890s still read with much interest today” (Hoffman, Poetry of Stephen Crane, 4). Artist Will Bradley, who had charge of the book’s design and manufacture, told the publishers: “The book represents my best work up till now… I have become greatly interested in it and want to make it my masterpiece.” Illustrated with six full-page illustrations and additional decorations by Bradley, the whole printed on heavy gray laid paper. BAL 4083. Brucolli & Clark, 80.

Interior fine; lightest toning, edge-wear to fragile boards. An exceptional near-fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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