[Black Sun Press] Crane, Hart. The Bridge

Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1930. First edition, #23/50 numbered copies on Japanese Vellum, and signed by Crane (from a total of 283). 4to. Title-page and text printed in black and in red. Illustrated with three photographic reproductions by Walker Evans. Publisher's stiff printed wrappers; in original glassine, worn, with some losses (some pieces now laid in); Cragwood estate book-plate of American philanthropist Jane Engelhard on rear free endpaper; in red cloth slip case and chemise; original slip case wanting. Minkoff A-32; Connolly, The Modern Movement 64; Schwarz and Schweik A2

Rare first edition of Hart Crane's modern masterpiece, one of only 50 copies signed by the author, and a defining achievement of the Black Sun Press. Called "cubism in poetry" when it was initially reviewed in The New York Times, Crane struggled to complete the epic poem over a near seven-year period. A counterpoint to T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, it was met with mixed reception upon publication, exacerbating Crane's mental health woes and excessive drinking, leading to his death by suicide in 1932. It is now a defining piece of 20th century poetry, and a "masterpiece of neo-Romanticism" (Connolly).

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Christie's, New York, American and English Modern Literature from the Library of Mrs. Charles W. Engelhard, October 27, 1995, Lot 23

[Black Sun Press] Crane, Hart. The Bridge