SIR JOHN BETJEMAN AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : John Murray, (1937). First edition. An early collection of thirty-three poems - including "Slough", "Croydon" and "Tunbridge Wells".
Foolscap 4to. [x],(46)pp. Illustrations. Original black cloth, blocked in gilt on upper cover and spine; all edges gilt; a few faint spots; neat ownership inscription; occasional neat pencil annotation; a very good copy in the original McKnight Kauffer dust-jacket - a design in white, blue and black - a little nicked, tape-repaired at head, and with extensive tanning to spine and outer edges.

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London : John Murray, 1940. First edition. An early collection of twenty-five poems, including "Upper Lambourne", "Pot Pourri from a Surrey Garden", "Blackfriars", "Holy Trinity, Sloane Street", "Myfanwy", etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (xx),(67),[i]pp. Silhouette portrait frontispiece by Apollo. Ribbon marker. Original blue pebbled cloth; paper title label on spine; label very slightly rubbed; a few very minor marks and signs of age and use, but a very good copy. Contemporary (April 1940) ownership inscription of E. P. B. Linstead of Kessingland on front free endpaper, and a cutting of a contemporary review loosely inserted.

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London : John Murray, 1945. First edition. An early collection of twenty-four poems, including “Parliament Hill Fields”, “South London Sketch, 1944”, “May-Day Song for North Oxford”, “In a Bath Teashop”, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). vi,54pp. Original red cloth; paper title label ruled and lettered in black on upper cover; spine just a touch darkened; rear endpaper very slightly bubbled, as often, but overall a very good copy.

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London : Faber & Faber, (1957). First edition. An elegant and idiosyncratic anthology of English love poems, from Chaucer through to the moderns - Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin and Richard Murphy’s “The Archaeology of Love”. Compiled, edited and introduced by Betjeman and Taylor.
Post 8vo (201 x 124mm). 220pp. Bound in a smart recent quarter green morocco, banded and gilt; contrasting red label; top edge green; a couple of slight internal marks, but overall a most attractive copy.

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London : John Murray, (1974). First edition. Twenty-seven poems from the period 1967-1974, including The Costa Blanca, A Wembley Lad, A Mind's Journey to Diss, etc.
Crown 8vo. 62,[ii]pp. Original yellow cloth, blocked and lettered on spine in gilt; near fine in the original turquoise, white and black dust-jacket - price-clipped and with a faint suggestion of creasing at upper edge, but also very good indeed. Contemporary Christmas gift inscription from Jane and Robert to their father.

£40

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[London] : Privately Printed, [ca.1977]. First edition. A broadside poem of twenty lines in honour of the famous old church in the Strand, signed by Betjeman in his frail hand of old age, and published from his address at 29 Radnor Walk. Undated, but presumably related to Betjeman's fund-raising campaign for the church launched in 1977.
Single sheet of imitation parchment paper, printed in black on recto only. 296 x 206mm (approx. 11-5/8" x 8-1/8"). Illustration. Two tiny spots at head, but otherwise in very good and clean state.

£125

To confirm availability and to purchase this item please note the stock number 34635 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : John Murray, (1981). First trade edition : the corrected edition - the 1980 first printing having been withdrawn before publication when it was discovered that two of the thirty poems had been printed incomplete, with multiple lines omitted in each case.
Foolscap 4to. (66),[ii]pp. Illustrations by John Piper. Original green cloth, blocked and lettered on spine in gilt; mild spotting of top edge, but otherwise a very good and bright copy in a lightly sunned dust-jacket.

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London : John Murray, (1982). First edition : one of 100 numbered copies, signed by Betjeman, and specially bound. A collection of twenty-nine poems previously unpublished, or unpublished in book form, with an introduction by Bevis Hillier. Includes "1940", "Thoughts in a Train", "Henley Regatta 1902", "St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street Hill", "Woman Driver", "Chelsea 1977", etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). [2],[viii],(82),[iv]pp. Original maroon buckram, blocked and lettered on spine in gilt; a few trifling creases, but otherwise in excellent condition, in the original marbled slip-case.

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