Enough Rope First Edition - Dorothy Parker - Bauman Rare Books

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Enough Rope

Dorothy PARKER

Item#: 83656 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Enough Rope

“THREE BE THE THINGS I SHALL NEVER ATTAIN: ENVY, CONTENT, AND SUFFICIENT CHAMPAGNE”: FIRST EDITION OF DOROTHY PARKER’S FIRST VOLUME OF VERSE

PARKER, Dorothy. Enough Rope. Poems. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926. Slim octavo, original half black cloth, original patterned paper-covered boards, original dust jacket.

First edition of the Algonquin wit’s first collection of poems. A beautiful copy in scarce original dust jacket.

“After a career as a dramatic and literary critic in her native New York City, during which she achieved an almost legendary reputation for her malicious and sardonic bon mots, [Parker] published her first book of poetry, Enough Rope (1926). This and the two volumes that followed, Sunset Gun (1928) and Death and Taxes (1931)… are works of light, satirical verse, characterized by brilliant concision, flippant cynicism, and caustic variations on certain dominant themes, such as frustrated love and cheated idealism in modern living” (Hart, 569). “Her light verse is excellent… Constantly ‘betrayed’ by unsatisfactory and unreliable lovers, Parker fought back in sharp epigrammatic verse, critical of men— particularly of the highbrows and Bohemians who were her usual companions” (Hamilton, 409). Includes Parker’s famous paeon to suicide methods, “Résumé;” “Comment,” where she finds a rhyme for the word extemporanea; and “News Item,” one of her most famous and most often unattributed poems: “Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses.”

Book fine, with minor offsetting to pages 100 and 101. Scarce dust jacket exceptionally lovely, with light toning to spine, unobtrusive half-inch closed tear to bottom of rear panel. A nearly fine copy, scarce in such excellent condition.

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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.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
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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Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
Edition Print-run from a single setting of type without substantial change. Depending on demand, any number of printings can be made from a setting of type For example, a first printing might consist of 1000 copies, followed by a second printing of 2500 copies; in which case the book would have a first edition, first printing of 1000 copies, and a first edition, second printing of 2500 copies.
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Marginalia Handwritten notes made in the margins by a previous owner.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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