The Lone Striker, a pristine first edition, still within the original envelope, inscribed by Frost to a noted bibliophile and early Frost enthusiast in May 1935.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, printed at the Plimpton Press, 1933. First edition. Wraps. This lovely first edition of "The Lone Striker" by Robert Frost is the first (and uniquely titled) published appearance of this poem, inscribed and dated by Frost. In four lines in black ink on the inside front cover Frost wrote: "To Paul Lemperly | from his old friend | Robert Frost | May 1935".
The 7.375 x 4.876 booklet is bound in French wraps of faintly pinkish-tan, laid paper printed in black and red, the front cover with a prominent illustration of the titular lone striker by American typographer, book designer, and illustrator William Addison Dwiggins (1880-1956). Dwiggins also contributes an illustration of a tree heading the poem on the first page. The contents are four pages printed on cream laid paper, the poem terminating on the third page with "Robert Frost | South Shaftsbury, Vermont". The fourth and final page is blank. The contents leaves are stitched at the center fold with white silk thread knotted at the spine. The front flap is printed "Copyright 1933, By Robert Frost," the rear flap is blank, the rear cover declares this to be "Number Eight of The Borzai Chap Books" published by "Alfred A Knopf". These Knopf chapbooks were a 1933 limited run featuring poetry and original illustrations. This edition saw 2,000 copies printed.
Condition of this copy is truly fine, immaculate inside and out with no apparent wear. The only sign that it has been handled is Frost's inscription. Condition doubtless owes to the presence of the original envelope, unsealed. As specified in Crane, the envelope is of watermarked laid paper the same hue as that of the wraps binding. The envelope is very good plus, clean and complete, though lightly toned with a few tiny closed tears and minor wear to extremities.
Superlative condition may also owe something to the bibliographic fastidiousness of the original owner to whom this copy was inscribed. Paul Lemperly (1858-1939) was recognized in his New York Times obituary as an "internationally known collector of rare books... Lemperly spent his long business career with the Hall-Van Gorder Company, wholesale druggists. He began collecting fine books when a young man" and "was greatly interested in modern literature." Lemperly became both a member and president of the Rowfant Club, a bibliographic society in Cleveland, Ohio. He apparently donated a collection, still held by Middlebury College, of "original manuscript and typescript letters and writings from American authors throughout the 19th and 21st centuries." Among the items held by Middlebury is a 19 December 1915 letter from Lemperley recommending Robert Frost's poetry. Given that Frost's first collection of poems was not published until 1913, Lemperly was clearly an early Frost reader and enthusiast.
Intriguingly, this first published appearance of Frost's poem was here titled "The Lone Striker" without subtitle, but when first published in Frost's collection A Further Range (1936), it was titled "A Lone Striker" with the subtitle "or, Without Prejudice to Industry". It appeared thus in four subsequent collections of Frost works. Hence this is not only the first published appearance of this poem, but uniquely titled as well.
The poem "explores the plight of a traditional worker faced with an increasingly mechanized workplace. Despite being curious ‘To see if some forlorn machine | Was standing idle for his sake,’ the worker decides not to work one day… and turns to enjoy trees and springs, which ‘boded action, deed.’” The worker rationalizes that if “industry” needs him, “they knew where to search.” The deliberately-not-damning pivot of the poem is “Man’s ingenuity was good. | He saw it plainly where he stood, | Yet found it easy to resist.” This echoes Randall Jarrell’s observation about Frost’s “stubborn truthfulness, his willingness to admit both the falseness in the cliché and the falseness in the contradiction of the cliché.”
References: Crane A17; Middlebury College; The New York Times; Tuten and Zubizarreta; Parini. Item #008738
Price: $1,850.00