The Journal of Albion Moonlight.
(New York: Kenneth Patchen, 1941). First edition, first issue (Subscriber’s Edition), self-published. One of 50 copies printed in Bodoni types on specially made Italian handmade paper by Peter Beilenson at the Walpole Printing Office in Mount Vernon, N. Y., and signed by the author. Morgan A3. Morgan calls for a three-quarter leather binding; Larry Smith also mentions such a binding; we have seen numerous copies of the Subscriber’s Edition over the course of almost fifty years, but none in a leather binding. So far as we know, the regular binding was red buckram and marbled boards, as here. James Laughlin had initially contracted to publish the novel, but subsequently rejected it, in part because he couldn’t understand it, and also, perhaps, because he succumbed to pressure from Delmore Schwartz of the Partisan Review who maintained an unremitting vendetta against Patchen, whose vehement anti-war stance was increasingly unpopular during the years leading up to America’s entry into the war. Laughlin would change his mind eventually, and in 1961 New Directions became the publisher of The Journal of Albion Moonlight, keeping it in print ever since. A fine copy. Tall 8vo, original red buckram-backed marbled boards, publisher’s slipcase with printed label on spine.
Price: $4,000.00