"IN MANHOOD I COULD ONLY SIP THE CUP": FIRST EDITION OF SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, INSCRIBED BY EDGAR LEE MASTERS WITH A POEM FROM THE WORK

MASTERS, Edgar Lee. Spoon River Anthology. New York: Macmillan, 1915. Small octavo, original black- and gilt-stamped blue cloth, uncut.

First edition, first issue of Masters’ celebrated poetic examination of virtue and vice in the American heartland, inscribed by the poet with the entire poem "Francis Turner" from the work, “For E— [Text of Poem] Edgar Lee Masters, May 10-1941."

In 1914, Masters, a lawyer by trade, "began a series of poems about his boyhood experiences in western Illinois, published (under the pseudonym Webster Ford) in Reedy's Mirror (St. Louis). This was the beginning of Spoon River Anthology, the book that would make his reputation and become one of the most popular and widely known works in all of American literature" (ANB). Masters envisioned the work—over 200 short, free verse poems voiced by dead residents of the fictional Spoon River, Illinois—as "a kind of Divine Comedy," representing a full range of humanity from the noble to the foolish, the saints and—in particular—the sinners. "The malevolence, greed and violence revealed in the poems stood in direct contrast to the conventions of piety dominating early 20th-century literature of rural America. An underlying moral seriousness and compassion for victims of misfortune lent conviction to the poetry's indictments of pettiness and corruption" (Springer, 438). Masters' "psychologically and socially acute" poetry was instantly popular and marked him as a leader in the Chicago Renaissance (Hart, 715). "Critical reception ranged from English critic John Cowper Powys' view that Masters was 'the natural child of Walt Whitman' to Ezra Pound's proclamation that 'at last, America has discovered a poet.' Perhaps more impressive was the book's enormous popularity with nonspecialist readers, an achievement that has outlasted the ups and downs of many a literary reputation in the academic canons… Spoon River Anthology has been adapted for the stage, and music has been added, and demand for the book and the dramatic adaptations has continued" (ANB). First issue, measuring seven-eighths of an inch across the top. With three leaves of publisher's advertisements at rear. Without very scarce dust jacket, glassine. Bruccoli & Clark II:244. The poem inscribed by Masters in this copy, "Francis Turner," can be found on page 73. It reads: "I could not run or play / In boyhood. / In manhood I could only sip the cup, / Not drink – / For scarlet-fever left my heart diseased. / Yet I lie here / Soothed by a secret none but Mary knows: / There is a garden of acacia, / Catalpa trees, and arbors sweet with vines – / There on that afternoon in June / By Mary's side – / Kissing her with my soul upon my lips / It suddenly took flight."

A beautiful copy in very nearly fine condition.