Meet My Folks.
by HUGHES, Ted
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
London, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Faber and Faber,, 1961. Frieda's first birthday present First edition, first impression, the dedication copy, inscribed by Hughes on the front free endpaper six days prior to official publication, "To Frieda, on her first birthday, from Da, with love, April 1st, 1961". Meet My Folks was Hughes's third collection of poetry and his first book of children's verse. Hughes wrote this collection while Sylvia Plath was pregnant with Frieda. Plath excitedly wrote to her mother when discussing baby names: "Isn't it wonderful to have a children's book ready to be dedicated to whomever it is!" Having been rejected by Harper, Harcourt Brace, and the Atlantic Press, the collection was accepted by T. S. Eliot for Faber and Faber with only minor revisions. Plath wrote to her mother that "Tom Eliot is delighted with the drawings & poems in Meet My Folks! I can't wait to see the book: it is scheduled for Spring 1961, about in time for Frieda's first birthday" (Steinberg & Kukil, p. 516). In the work Hughes introduces his readers to his wackily reimagined family, including his sister Jane, who is "nothing but a great big crow". Hughes continued to reinvent his family for subsequent editions: "as so often happens with Hughes's poems, the formal stopping-point that a book represents is no guarantee that his imagination has reached its own final stopping point. He was adding new 'folks' and dropping others long after the book's first appearance" (Cushman, p. 241). Octavo. Original illustrated boards, titles to front cover and spine in red and blue. With dust jacket. Illustrated by George Adamson. Rubbing to board edges, faint foxing to book block edges, occasional finger-soiling; foxed jacket unclipped, spine faded, joints rubbed, nicks to fold ends: a near-fine copy in very good jacket. Sagar & Tabor A4a, their "AB" state, without priority. Keith Cushman, "Hughes's poetry for children", in Keith Sagar, ed., The Achievement of Ted Hughes, 1983; Peter K. Steinberg & Karen V. Kukil, eds, The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume II, 1956-1963, 2018.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Peter Harrington (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 169393
- Title
- Meet My Folks.
- Author
- HUGHES, Ted
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Place of Publication
- London: Faber and Faber,
- Date Published
- 1961
Terms of Sale
Peter Harrington
All major credit cards are accepted. Both UK pounds and US dollars (exchange rate to be agreed) accepted. Books may be returned within 14 days of receipt for any reason, please notify first of returned goods.
About the Seller
Peter Harrington
Biblio member since 2006
London
About Peter Harrington
Since its establishment, Peter Harrington has specialised in sourcing, selling and buying the finest quality original first editions, signed, rare and antiquarian books, fine bindings and library sets. Peter Harrington first began selling rare books from the Chelsea Antiques Market on London's King's Road. For the past twenty years the business has been run by Pom Harrington, Peter's son.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- Dedication Copy
- ...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Foxed
- Foxing is the age related browning, or brown-yellowish spots, that can occur to book paper over time. When this aging process...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.