Traveling at Home (association copy with holograph poem)
North Point Press, 1989. First thus. Hardcover. Association copy, inscribed by Berry on the first blank in the year of publication to the poet, critic, and biographer Vince Clemente with a holograph version of the titular poem, "Traveling at Home." Clemente was a professor at SUNY and his papers are held at Rochester University. This trade volume by North Point Press (Berry's longtime home, in its various permutations, with editor-publisher Jack Shoemaker) reproduces a fine press version published by the Press of Appletree Alley at Bucknell University in 1988, the year before this edition, limited to 150 signed copies. The first section in the book is a short essay running 10 pages, "A Walk Down Camp Branch," described as "an essay in which the author reveals his special sensitivity to nature and his rural Kentucky community"; the second two sections feature fifteen poems. Fifty-six pages total. Green botanically patterned paper boards and a dark green cloth spine; speckled mint-green endpapers. Illustrated throughout with wood engravings in green by well-known artist John DePol. A handsome production adhering to the original, and likely less common signed in this trade version. Without a dust jacket as issued. A near fine copy with just a touch of rubbing to corners; the lower front corner has just worn through to the board, but it's tidy and inconspicuous. The holograph poem is sensational and makes this a unique find. Berry is our consummate agrarian poet-writer-intellectual and "Traveling at Home" in Kentucky defines his world-renown ethos. Near fine. Item #1005
ISBN: 9780865474178
Price: $1,750.00 save 5% $1,662.50