Robert Frost (1874-1963) NORTH OF BOSTON. 1914

FROST, Robert (1874-1963). North of Boston. London: David Nutt, 1914. First edition, first issue, binding A. Presentation copy to his friend and fellow poet Wilfrid W. Gibson, inscribed by Frost on the front free endpaper: ‘Wilfrid Gibson / from / Robert Frost’. As in the publication of A Boy's Will, approximately 350 copies were bound up in the first binding in 1914 to be sold by David Nutt in London, from a total edition of 1000. Early in 1915, 150 copies were sent to Henry Holt and Company, the firm that would be Frost's lifelong American publisher, before the remaining sets were distributed to various small publishers over the next decade, finding themselves in various different bindings. Two of Frost's most beloved poems, ‘Mending Wall’ and ‘After Apple Picking,’ appear in this collection. Critic Edward Garnett reviewed the book in the Atlantic in August 1915: ‘It seemed to me that this poet was destined to take a permanent place in American literature.’ Crane A3. Octavo (191 x 143mm). Original olive-green cloth, front cover and spine giltlettered, top edge trimmed, other edges uncut (front cover slightly soiled and spine a shade darkened, some slight rubbing at extremities); cloth slipcase. Provenance: Wilfrid Gibson (1878-1962; presentation inscription from the author) – William E. Stockhausen (sale, Part II, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 14 December 1974, lot 711) – Christie’s, New York, 27 October 1995, lot 53.