Mervyn Peake — Shapes & Sounds

London, Chatto & Windus, 1941 . First edition. Cloth. The first edition of Mervyn Peake"s first collected volume of poetry, one of 1,000 copies issued. In the publisher's original quarter cloth binding with paper boards. Lacking the original dust wrapper. First edition. Issued in a limited first edition of 1,000 copies, 500 copies were initially bound in October 1941, with the remaining stock sold by March 1942; a further 250 copies were bound from sheets in 1945. The first collected volume of poetry by Mervyn Peake, published five years before Titus Groan. The collection comprises twenty-four poems, including The Cocky Walkers, Rhondda Valley and Palais de Danse, Swan Arrogant, The Curning Boy, and brings together both previously published work and new poems. Several pieces had previously appeared in periodicals including The London Mercury, The Listener, The New English Weekly and The Spectator. Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was an English novelist, poet, artist and illustrator, best remembered for the Gormenghast sequence. An important early work in Peake's literary career. In the publisher's original quarter cloth binding with paper boards. Externally, smart. Slight rubbing and bumping to extremities with minor marking to boards; minor discolouration to perimeters. Slight fading to spine; rubbing to spine ends. Armorial bookplate of one Gwennyth Madeleine Marnham to front pastedown. Contemporary 1942 ink gift inscription to front free endpaper. Internally, generally firmly bound. Hinges slightly strained in places, notably between viii and p.1, with webbing slightly exposed. Pages generally bright, with light scattered spotting, heavier to first and last few leaves, fore edge, and gutters. Very Good . Ill.: Mervyn Peake. Very Good .