THE SELECTED POETRY OF ROBINSON JEFFERS; [With transcribed letter]

New York: Random House, (1938). First edition. 125 poems selected by Jeffers and Una, his wife. Includes first appearances of four poems. From the collection of Allen K. Mears with THIS COPY CONTAINING THE ONLY VERSION EXTANT OF A 1939 LETTER WRITTEN BY UNA JEFFERS ON ROBINSON JEFFERS' BEHALF to Elizabeth Bauer, as recorded in THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF ROBINSON JEFFERS: With Selected Letters of Una Jeffers, Volume Two, 1931-1939 (Stanford: 2011, pp. 988-89) where it appears in full with the notation "ALC. Mears. 3 pages." A footnote explains that Una Jeffers' original letter is lost, but that it is known to have been written from notes by Robinson Jeffers on Bauer's letter to him, fragments of which survive. In her letter, Bauer requests he expound on the meaning and intent of his poems and mentions an upcoming meeting of her reading group during which they plan to discuss Jeffers' poetry, causing the editors to surmise that "Bauer then shared Una's letter with her reading group, and someone in attendance copied it into his or her book." Large 8vo (6.5 x 9.5 inches) tan cloth boards, printed spine label; Edward Weston photograph of Jeffers tipped in preceding contents pages, as called for; 622 pages including title and first-line indexes [Broomfield A27a]. In addition to the transcribed letter, there are notes on Jeffers' poetry in the same hand on both sides of the front free endpaper and in margins of several pages. Very good to near fine with rear hinge paper starting to split; in good or better dust jacket with shallow chipping, moderate soiling, spine tanned, and internal archival tape repair to several tears.