[Black Sun Press] Crosby, Harry. Collected Poems of Harry Crosby

Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1931. In four volumes, comprising: Chariot of the Sun (Vol. I); Transit of Venus (Vol. II); Sleeping Together (Vol. III); Torchbearer (Vol. IV). Each numbered 27, with the exception of Sleeping Together (#25), of possibly 500 sets on Navarre paper (watermarked "Papeteries Lafuma"). 8vo. Title-pages printed in red and in black. Illustrated with one frontispiece and one plate. Publisher's stiff printed wrappers; in original glassines, spines browned, scattered wear, some loss along spine of Chariot of the Sun; presumably lacking slip case. Minkoff A-42; Roberts, Lawrence B33 (Chariot of the Sun); Gallup, Eliot B18 (Transit of Venus); Gallup, Pound B25 (Torchbearer)

Caresse Crosby's memorial to her late husband, Harry Crosby, published a year following his death in 1930. Caresse edited Harry's poems for this publication, comprised of three volumes that had previously been published (Chariot of the Sun, in 1927; Transit of Venus, in 1928; Sleeping Together, in 1929), with a forth volume of unpublished work gathered as Torchbearer. D.H. Lawrence provided an introduction for Chariot of the Sun, that was omitted from the first edition, while T.S. Eliot, Stuart Gilbert, and Ezra Pound were commissioned to provide commentaries for the other three volumes.

With the exception of Transit of Venus (Vol. II), each title was offered separately. According to a printed prospectus (not included), Transit of Venus was only included with the sets of all four volumes.

According to the colophon, 20 lettered copies on Japanese Vellum, 50 numbered copies on Holland Paper and "the sheets for five hundred copies on uncut Navarre" were printed. Gallup notes, "Mr Harry F. Marks, the American agent for this edition, stated that to the best of his knowledge, the sets on Japanese vellum were never printed, and the full fifty copies on Holland (announced to sell at $40.00 the set, bound) were probably not published. No copy on Holland paper has been seen. At least several of the Navarre copies were numbered, in some instances with numbers between 1 and 50 theoretically reserved for the Holland sets. In the Navarre copies the paper is watermarked: PAPETERIES LAFUMA." (Gallup, Pound, p. 151).

[Black Sun Press] Crosby, Harry. Collected Poems of Harry Crosby