Lingual Exercises for Advanced Vocabularians
Privately printed at the University Press, 1925.
First edition, one of 99 copies. Original brown buckram, spine lettered in gilt. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to Lady Ottoline Morrell with the author's monogram. A near fine copy, with just a touch of tanning to the spine.
A meaningful association copy. Ottoline Morrell was one of the most significant figures in Sassoon's life as his war poems began to gain popularity.
She became aware of him when she read his poem 'To Victory' in The Times on 15 January 1916, and traced him through Edmund Gosse. He would stay at Garsington when on leave and Morrell did much to support and promote his work. Like her he was an admirer of the Ballets Russes, and she wrote of her pleasure at finding 'in the dark prison-like days a sympathetic desire - to fly out beyond into the beauty and colour and freedom that one so longs for' - Max Egremont (Siegfried Sassoon).
One of the verses, 'To An Old Lady, Dead', is annotated, presumably by Morrell's daughter Julian, "My Grandmother H.A. Morrell".
A scarce collection of poetry, ostensibly anonymous, but privately published by Sassoon for distribution amongst his friends. The verses, seemingly a reaction to the war and his poems of that period, are both skittish and ironic and sometimes urbane. Writing later to his publisher about including some verses from this work in a collection, Sassoon states, "I have done with verbal gymnastics in the future. Being smart don't suit me, really. But it was a phase that had to be worked out..."
Stock ID: 40852
£2,500.00
