SAINT-JOHN PERSE. Vents (Rare first edition)

Paris: Gallimard, 1946. First edition. Large octavo. Original publisher’s stiff cream wrappers, upper cover with double-rule frame, title in red, nrf device to centre, publisher’s imprint below. Printed on paper of issue; uncut. Preserved in the original clear protective jacket as issued. Copy no. 534, from a total edition of 2,350 copies on papier de châtaignier, following a small number of deluxe copies on Chine and vélin pur fil (as stated in the colophon). Achevé d’imprimer 1 October 1946 on the presses of J. Dumoulin, Paris. A very good to near fine copy, with light, even toning to the wrappers and occasional faint handling marks; internally clean and fresh.

Vents is one of the major post-war poetic works of Saint-John Perse, Nobel Laureate in Literature (1960), and represents the mature style of his long-lined, prophetic verse, composed during his American exile. The first edition is increasingly scarce, particularly in well-preserved wrappers.

[L1 7 Shelf]