Israfel: Letters, Visions and Poems.
London: E. W. Allen, 1886. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo. 114pp White papered boards with bevelled edges. Author and title in red within rules on front cover. Title has been neatly added in hand to the normally-blank spine. There is an inscription on the front pastedown: "To Kate Franklyn and / W. Newall Johnson. / In Memoriam Aug: 1888." Thus far we have been unable to identify either the author of the inscription or the recipients, but given that the inscription predates the book's formal release the individuals concerned must surely have been in Waite's immediate circle (the inscription has "August 1886" whereas the book was technically not published until September, 1886) Dr. R. A. Gilbert describes "Israfel" thus: "Israfel consists of four prose letters, set around original and quoted verse, five poetice 'visions' and five other poems. The remainder of the text contains six poems, one of which, 'The Sea Fowl', first appeared in Aunt Judy's Magazine for 1884." Technically this is Waite's third published volume, however no copies are known to exist of his first book "An Ode to Astronomy and Other Poems" (1877) which was apparently "a minute quarto pamphlet of verse" so in practical terms this is his second published work, preceeded by "A Lyric of Fairyland" (1879). [Gilbert A3] Boards a little darkened, corners very lightly bruised, endpaper hinges lightly splitting but boards still firmly attached. A clean, VG+ copy of a scarce work. Item #72988
Price: $600.00