YEATS, W.B. The Poetical Works. Volume I – Lyrical Poems. Volume II – Dramitical Works (A superb set)

THE FINEST COPIES EVER OFFERED FOR SALE IN SUPERB CONDITION BY THE EXOTICALLY CELTIC POET

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906-07. Octavo. Publisher’s blue cloth, smooth spines densely decorated in gilt in a Symbolist-style design. Front free endpaper or flyleaf of each volume inscribed in ink: “Evelyn R. Poole / from Clarence / Christmas, 1907. Half a dozen openings in the text with offsetting from (now removed) acidic papers or bookmarks, other trivial internal imperfections; the faintest hint of wear at extremities, but a Superb set - the text clean, fresh, and bright, and the scarcely worn bindings with dazzling gilt decoration.
Divided into volumes of “Lyrical” and “Dramatical” poems, this early 20th century collection of works by the brightest star of the Celtic Renaissance comes in publisher’s bindings with memorably bright gilt spines that make a dramatic appearance on the shelf. According to DNB, Yeats (1865-1939) “first came to fame as the exotically Celtic poet of a ‘new’ nationalist Ireland: almost single-handed, he made Irishness culturally fashionable. Spearheading a great cultural renaissance, he moved into his maturity as the voice of his country.” He had, DNB notes, “a lifelong commitment to weeding and rewriting his early work into a canon.” In his preface to our volumes, he says his text includes “all of [the] poetry [he has] any liking for.” This includes his early collections “Ballads and Lyrics,” “The Wanderings of Oisin,” and “The Rose,” as well as “The Wind Among the Reeds,” inspired by his romance with Olivia Shakespear. Also here is “In the Seven Woods,” described as “Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age.” The verse plays in the second volume are “The Countess Cathleen,” “The Land of Heart’s Desire,” “The Shadowy Waters,” “On Baile’s Strand,” “The King’s Threshold,” and “Deirdre.” At the end of the volume, Yeats has added appendices on the “Legendary and Mythological Foundations” of his works, a listing of dates and places the plays had been performed, the acting version of “The Shadowy Waters,” and a “Statement of Principles” for the National Theatre Society at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. As DNB observes, Yeats “had always been supreme among modern Irish poets and his international standing has equally been recognized as one of the great innovators of modern poetry.” He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

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