YEATS, W. B: The Celtic Twilight [AUTHOR INSCRIBED COPY]

YEATS, W.B. The Celtic Twilight.  Men and Women, Dhouls and Faeries.  With frontispiece 'The Last Gleeman' by John B. Yeats facing title. London, Lawrence and Bullen, 1893.  First edition. pp. xii, 212.  Olive-green ribbed cloth, title author and publisher in gilt on spine.  Inscribed by W.B. Yeats 'With the author's best regards, Feb 19. 94' on front free endpaper.  Armorial bookplate of Nigel Sligh and engraved bookplate of Jim Edwards on front pastedown.  Mild foxing to endpapers, text fresh and clean.  Recased.  A very good copy.
The first edition, first issue with the publisher's imprint in capital letters at foot of spine.  A work whose title Yeats later found difficult to shake off.  'The Celtic Twilight' can be said to have given its name to the epoch of Ireland's history that saw the beginnings of the Irish Literary Revival, the start of the Irish National Theatre and the Abbey Theatre.  Yeats was fortunate to have grown up in Sligo, a county rich in folklore and legends.  As a young man he collected these, listening avidly to the tales told him by the local peasantry, people like Paddy Flynn of Ballysodare, by boatmen and cobblers and everyone who had a story.  This collection therefore represents the first steps in Yeats' thought on matters concerning the supernatural.
In John Quinn's copy Yeats wrote in 1904: ""All real stories heard among the people or real incidents with but a little disguise in names and places.""" 1893 YEATS, W.B.

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