Browse Similar Items
THE BALTHUS POEMS.
(New York: Atheneum, 1982). 240 x 147 mm. (9 1/2 x 5 3/4"). 1 p.l., ix, [1], 45 [1] pp., [1] leaf. FIRST EDITION, one of 750 copies.
Publisher's orange buckram, front cover blind-stamped with the author and title, flat spine lettered in gilt, top edge stained red. In original dust jacket. SPECIALLY (and flamboyantly) SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the title page. Dust jacket a little yellowed at bottom of back panel, but still a very fine copy.
This is an excellent signed copy of an art-inspired poetry anthology that comes from a poet's library. Writer and teacher Stephen Dobyns (b. 1941) is known for poetry that The Poetry Foundation describes as "narrative and sometimes absurdist," juxtaposing humor and reverence on a wide variety of topics. Here, his verses are inspired by art, with each poem taking its title from a work by the French modernist painter known as Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, 1908-2001), whose often overtly sexual work caused frequent controversy through his career. Dobyns cautions that these are not direct interpretations of the artworks--in the foreword he writes that "rather, I tried to turn each painting into a personal metaphor to create narrative poems seemingly free from the lyrical first-person voice." Our copy is from the library of Laure-Anne Bosselaar (b. 1943) and her husband Kurt Brown (1944-2013). Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, and editor who has published numerous works of poetry in multiple languages, including five collections of her own works. She has received various prizes and recognitions (Pushcart, Isabella Gardner, Breadloaf) and was named Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara in 2019. Sometimes publishing jointly with Bosselaar, Brown was also a prolific poet and editor of anthologies, as well as the founder and first director of the Aspen Writer's Conference, playing a pivotal role in shaping its early vision and establishing Aspen as a literary center. (ST20338-020)
Price: $175.00