In the Clearing.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962. First trade edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is the first trade edition, first printing, of Robert Frost’s final volume of poetry, published on Frost’s birthday, 26 March 1962, ten months before his death. Condition is near fine in a near fine dust jacket. The gray cloth binding is square, immaculately clean, tight, and entirely unfaded with sharp corners and only trivial hints of shelf wear to extremities. The contents are immaculately clean, with no spotting, soiling, or previous ownership marks, showing only mild age-toning. The dust jacket is entirely complete, including the original “$4.00” upper front flap price. The jacket shows only minor scuffs and wear and is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.
The title of the poem was taken from the title of the poem “A Cabin in the Clearing.” A consciousness of ending was evident. The book was dedicated to Louis Untermeyer, Sidney Cox, and John Bartlett, all three “close longtime friends of Frost.” The contents are “preceded by an excerpt from what Frost considered one of his most important poems, “Kitty Hawk”. “For years, Frost's intention was to call his last book of poetry The Great Misgiving, from line 229 of ‘Kitty Hawk.’ He finally determined, upon the urging of friends, to name the volume in a more positive light.”
“The second half-title has line 1.3 of ‘The Pasture’ printed in italics: And wait to watch the water clear, I may. The reference makes a clear tie to Frost’s earliest poetry… By associating the book with his poems from the Derry days, he must have been aware of a sense of closure and completion to what he must have felt would be his final volume…. Publicity made In the Clearing one of Frost’s best-selling volumes and one of his most widely read.” (Tuten and Zubizarreta, p. 166)
Iconic American poet and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963), the quintessential poetic voice of New England, was actually born in San Francisco and first published in England. When Frost was eleven, his newly widowed mother moved east to Salem, New Hampshire, to resume a teaching career. There Frost swiftly found his poetic voice, infused by New England scenes and sensibilities.
Promising as both a student and writer, Frost nonetheless dropped out of both Dartmouth and Harvard, supporting himself and a young family by teaching and farming. Ironically, it was a 1912 move to England with his wife and children – “the place to be poor and to write poems” – that finally catalyzed his recognition as a noteworthy American poet. The manuscript of A Boy’s Will was completed in England and accepted for publication by David Nutt in 1913. A convocation of critical recognition, introduction to other writers, and creative energy supported the English publication of Frost’s second book, North of Boston, in 1914, after which “Frost’s reputation as a leading poet had been firmly established in England, and Henry Holt of New York had agreed to publish his books in America.”
Accolades met Frost’s return to America at the end of 1914 and by 1917 a move to Amherst “launched him on the twofold career he would lead for the rest of his life: teaching whatever “subjects” he pleased at a congenial college… and “barding around,” his term for “saying” poems in a conversational performance.” (ANB) By 1924 he had won the first of his eventual four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry (1931, 1937, and 1943). Frost spent the final decade and a half of his life as “the most highly esteemed American poet of the twentieth century” with a host of academic and civic honors to his credit. Two years before his death and fourteen months before this, his final collection of poetry was published, he became the first poet to read in the program of a U.S. Presidential inauguration (Kennedy, January 1961).
Reference: Crane A41.1. Item #007995
Price: $50.00