Mervyn Peake; Maurice Collis [Foreword] — Poems and Drawings

London, The Keepsake Press, 1965 . First edition. Paperback. An notably scarce trial state of Peake"s intimate combination of poetry and drawing, retaining the xerox wrap, surviving from a handful of rejected sheets subsequently assembled in this form. In the plain grey card wrappers characteristic of this trial state, sewn at the spine and accompanied by a monochrome xerox reproduction of the original cover design. A notably scarce trial printing of Mervyn Peake"s Poems and Drawings, preceding or prepared in connection with the first published edition of 1965. This copy corresponds to the distinct trial state recorded in Peake in Print: one of a few sets of originally rejected sheets, printed on heavier paper than the published edition.  The regular edition was hand-set and printed by Fabian Peake, Phyllida Barlow and Roy Lewis at the Keepsake Press in an edition of only 150 copies. This issue was instead stapled and had Peake"s grotesque animal-head design silkscreened in grey on fawn board, with the title and author"s name printed in red. Containing four poems printed in black, accompanied by five drawings by Peake, and a foreword by Maurice Collis. Collated, complete.  Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was a British writer, poet and artist, now best remembered for the Gormenghast novels but also highly regarded as an illustrator and draughtsman. An exceptionally scarce issue of this collection of poetry.  In the original plain wrappers. Externally, lovely. Very slight shelf wear to extremities. Xerox wrapper, excellent with very minor edge wear. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and clean with one or two very minor marks and spots. Fine . Ill.: Mervyn Peake. Fine/Fine.