Collected Poems 1951-1971.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, [1972]. Hardcover. 8vo. Tan cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial corner-clipped (NOT price-clipped) dust jacket. xvii, 396pp. Near fine/very good. Mild jacket edgewear, with spine lightly sunned. Item #48210
ISBN: 0393042413
Attractive, tight first edition of this National Book Award winner, and with lovely autograph addition to boot: Tipped to front flyleaf is a 6½" X 3 3/4" envelope with Cornell University address imprinted at upper right, above which the poet adds "Ammons" in blue ballpoint. Contained within this is a near fine Autograph Letter Signed from him, 1p, 6" X 9", Ithaca, NY, 7 April 1983. Addressed to noted Lincoln/Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). On "Cornell University" letterhead (where Ammons taught from 1964 to 1998), Ammons writes cordially if cryptically, in part: "How nice to hear from you; and thank you for telling me about George McMillan. I'm afraid I can't deal with that 'log' right now -- but maybe someday...." Signed simply "Archie" and boldly penned in blue ballpoint. Perhaps Ammons refers to the writer (1913-87) who penned some World War Two naval histories; Ammons served as sonar operator in the U.S. Navy aboard a destroyer escort during the war, so it's likely that WW2 naval veteran Gates was bringing some book to a fellow vet's attention.
Price: $150.00