B.S. Poems.

by JOHNSON

£800 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

JOHNSON, B.S. Poems. London: Constable and Company. 1964. Tall 8vo. Green cloth with gilt lettering on spine complete with green dust jacket; pp. [6], 7-53, [3]; inscription to front fly-leaf; minimal rubbing to top edge of spine, chipping to top edge of dust jacket spine with tears on fore-edge of dust jacket; otherwise very good. First edition with inscription of B.S. Johnson’s first book of poetry. Warmly inscribed to a certain ‘Roy’, ‘for typing many of these poems….’. Poems was the first book of poetry from Johnson and published very shortly after the release of his debut novel, Travelling People . In the majority, the poems are composed in syllabic metre which is contrasting to the stress metres in English and which was a device that allowed Johnson to open up colloquial speech patterns instead of resorting to a more contrived verse for his observations on daily existence. As indeed the blurb of this first edition concludes, the poems are “not intellect-in-verse, nor didactic-in-verse, not wit-in-verse, but poetry-in-verse”. Conditions of Living is a prime example of Johnson’s examination of the minutiae of our little but profound lives, “Living a whole life has three conditions…/of these I have the easier two,/but lack the third in lacking you”. SKU: 2120958

• Binding: Hardcover

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