Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

(Likely Manchester), ca. 1917. Autograph manuscript for The Ballad of the Bodkin & the Muskett, signed at the conclusion by the author, English poet Edward Carpenter. Four sheets, manuscript on rectos only. Inscribed on verso in another hand, "Sept. 1917 Sent by E.C." Extremities of pages lightly browned; rust stain from now removed paper clip at top left. 8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (225 x 175 mm).

Lot includes a photogravure of Carpenter, with facsimile signature. 7 1/2 x 5 in. (190 x 127 mm).

The Ballad of the Bodkin & the Muskett was one of three ballads published in a privately printed collection by Carpenter in 1917 (see Lot 45). The poem was written in response to British politician E.D. Morel's arrest, a well-known pacifist, who was charged with corresponding and sending publications to a neutral nation (Switzerland) during World War I.

Together with:

Salt, Henry S.
The New Leader. Henry Salt on Edward Carpenter. Revelations in Personal Letters.
No place, July 1, 1932. Four-page typescript, being an affectionate essay by Henry S. Salt on Edward Carpenter after the latter's death. Some manuscript corrections to text. Creasing from old folds, scattered stains, "E.C." written in blue ink at top left.

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) was a British author and social reformer, and an early advocate for animal rights. Salt first read Carpenter's works while a student in college, and the two later became friends when Salt moved nearby to Carpenter in Millthorpe.