First UK edition, first printing. Original red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Scattered spotting to fore- and upper edges and rear endpapers. In the dustwrapper, nicked to the upper spine tip with a short closed tear (c. 1 cm) and associated creasing to the upper edge of the rear panel; otherwise clean and bright. Not price-clipped (18s net to the front flap). Pound wrote the Cantos collected in 'Rock Drill' (1955) and 'Thrones' (1959) during his thirteen years of confinement in St Elizabeth's asylum in Washington, where he was sent upon being judged mentally unfit to stand trial for the radio broadcasts he made in support of the fascist Italian government during the war (the charge was treason). The poems of 'Thrones' are, even by the standard of the Cantos, dense with allusion and learning. George Kearns, however (citing Michael Alexander) refers to their "splintered beauty"; and of an "exultation set against impending darkness". First issued in Milan (All'insegna Del Pesce D'oro) in 1959, followed the same year by the US edition (New Directions), and the following year by this UK edition. The US and UK editions are offset from the Milanese edition, the Faber edition including minor corrections. Published 4 March 1960, 2290 copies of the UK edition were printed. (George Kearns, 'Ezra Pound: The Cantos', Cambridge: 1989; Gallup A77c.). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
