Books and Manuscripts

Pound, Ezra
Personae
London: Elkin Mathews, 1909. First edition. 59, (1) pp. Presentation copy, inscribed on dedication page by the dedicatee, Mary Moore, to Pound's son, Omar Shakespear Pound: “For Omar--a  / wonderful luncheon party-- / all this & Parker Too--Mary Moore Cross--” Publisher's light brown paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, wear to spine ends, upper front corner worn, light rubbing and wear to extremities and boards, headcap chipped; top edge trimmed, other edges untrimmed; inscribed by Shakespear in pencil on front free endpaper ("Nelly / from / O.S. / May, 09"); light spotting to title-page. Gallup A3

A handsome presentation copy of Ezra Pound's first book of poetry, inscribed by the dedicatee, Mary Moore (1884-1976), to Pound's son, Omar Shakespear Pound (1926-2010).

Moore and Ezra Pound first met in the summer of 1907 when Pound was tutoring in Scudder Falls, New Jersey, near to her home in Trenton. What started as a brief romance with intimations of marriage spawned into a lifelong friendship and correspondence. As Moore recalled years after their first meeting, she “first saw--or heard, rather--the poet reclining in a hammock on his own front porch, booming out verses in some foreign language. All that was visible of him was a profusion of red hair at one end of the hammock, and sharp-pointed shoes at the other” (Davenport, Ezra Pound, p. 583). Smitten by Moore's self-assertive personality, a courtship ensued over the summer, but came to a halt after Pound's departure to teach at Wabash College that fall. Following his return to the east coast shortly after, they resumed a friendship that would last their entire lives, and remained correspondents up until Pound's death, in 1972. In 1912 Moore married Frederick Cross, and in 1914, Pound married Dorothy Shakespear, of which Omar was their only son. Later in life Moore would find her position as a footnote in Pound scholarship widely amusing, and her correspondence with Pound is now held at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Likely alluding to their on-again, off-again relationship in the days before their mutual marriages, and that preceded Pound's move to Europe in 1908, he dedicated this book to her, “if she wants it”. Upon its publication, he sent Moore a copy. Pound frequently revised this collection of poetry, but his dedication to Moore always remained.