MODERNISM

George James Firmage was born in New York; attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1947-48) and College of the City of New York (1949); BA, New York University, 1952; pursued graduate study, University of Massachusetts, 1952-54; publications supervisor in advertising and marketing services department, First National City Bank, New York, 1954; wrote several books, including E.E. Cummings: a Miscellany (1958) and E.E. Cummings: a Bibliography; editor of A Garland for Dylan Thomas (1963) and of E.E. Cummings' Three Plays and a Ballet (1967).

Two stitched pamphlets of uniform design. 15pp., 12mo, and 19pp., 12mo. Tastefully printed, with covers in red and black. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. The first volume - 'A First List' - has a full-page 'Advertisement' by 'D. H.', in which he aspires to 'offer a fair proportion of what is alive in modern writing - a hope which is my raison d'etre as a publisher [...] nothing, if not lack of sense, or lack of the desire, need stop one from printing whatever is available, and has intrinsic vitality or permanence'.

Letter: 1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. 34 lines of text. A playful (stoned?) communication. He thanks him for 'giving me the Sahara right up to the North African Coast', and explains his plans for making the area 'fertile by piping into it water from the Mediterranean'. He asks him to forward 'photocopies of this letter' to Alec Natas ('a very powerful electrician'), and to Linda Talbot. There are also references to 'Marion', Ivan Katzen, 'Lord Levy' and 'the Imperial Dentist, Sol Philips'.

4pp., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with short closed tears at heads of both leaves. The recipient is not named, but the letter is from the Lynd family papers. Robert Lynd was in St Ives at the time of writing, and the letter begins: 'I'm so glad you are in such a nice place & that the children can join you there. They will love it. London gets so odious by the 15th of July. I came her e last week as I was very tired, & sick of the stuffy feeling of everything.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. The first page consists of a typescript in two columns, with names scored through and a few added in pencil. The second page has a few typewritten names, together with dozens added in pencil, clearly at different times. From 1919 the London Mercury's original editor J. C. Squire promoted the traditional verse of the Georgian Poets and their prose counterparts; on taking over in October 1934 Scott-James embraced the more fashionable modernist writing, and that change is reflected in the present list.

8vo, 17 + [i] pp. Stapled. In original grey wraps. Aged and worn copy of a scarce item.

8vo, 17 + [i] pp. Stapled. In original grey wraps. Aged and worn copy of a scarce item.

8vo, 1 p. Typed and signed in light-blue, beneath green letterhead, and with 'CARL VAN VECHTEN' 'watermark' at centre of page. Text clear and complete. On lightly aged paper, worn and dogeared at extremities. He thanks her for the copy of 'the Academic Observer (Gertrude Stein number) which intererested me so much that I am writing to ask if I may have another copy for a friend of mine, Please.' Autograph note explains that the 'friend' is one 'who also collects Steiniana'. Docketed in pencil on reverse: 'Miss Mallory | Keep this until I call - someday I will. | [signed] M. Lucha'.

4to: 36 pp + 12 pp of prints on art paper. Stapled. In striking original printed red card wraps. With A4 addendum leaf loosely inserted. Good, with light stain to bottom outer corner. Important two-page introduction by Lewis, reviewing his career, followed by three-page essay by Rothenstein on 'Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism'.

Gallup C552. 4to (leaf dimensions 28 x 22.5 cm), 40 pp. Stapled. In original blue printed wraps. Worn and dogeard on aged paper, with minor staining at foot of front wrap and first leaf. The 'Calendar' at the front lists, on 4 July [1950], the 'Lecture by Mr. T. S. Eliot, O.M.: "What Dante Means to Me," with H.E. the Italian Ambassador in the Chair.' The printed version, titled 'TALK ON DANTE | by T. S. Eliot', is in small type, and covers pages 13 to 18, with p.12 carrying a full-page photograph of Eliot shaking hands with a smiling figure (presumably the ambassador).

8vo: paginated 3-38. Four full-page reproductions of Miller's paintings. In original yellow printed wraps. On brittle, aged paper, with the body of the book detached from the wraps, which are worn and with one corner at front creased. Title taken from front wrap. One of 950 numbered copies, signed by the publisher on the final page (beneath 'Publisher's Addendum') 'Bern Porter | 25 South St | Houlton Maine | Copy # 296'. Shifreen &Jackson A37a. Uncommon. Apart from the British Library, COPAC only lists copies at Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford and Bristol.

The magazine consists of 48 pages, octavo, in original yellow printed wraps. Dogeared, and on aged paper, and with the grubby wraps quite heavily worn. 12mo publicity handbill loosely inserted. Rilke's contribution, dated 'Soglio, am Tage Mariae Himmelfahrt 1919', is on pp 14-20.

The engraving illustrates the biblical passage describing an incident during the wreck off Crete of a ship carrying Saint Paul. Acts 27:35: 'And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.' Printed on one side of a piece of paper, 28 x 19 cm, with one rough edge. A striking image, irregularly shaped, with white lines against a black background, showing centurions and others on the deck of a ship on a stormy sea, with land in the distance.