A Penny for the Poor
New York: Hillman, Curl, 1938. First American edition. Hardcover, octavo, red cloth boards, black spine and cover titles, lacking dust jacket, 396 pp. From the library of New York School poet, publisher and librettist, Kenward Elmslie. Written in blue ink on front free endpaper:“Kenward Gray Elmslie / April 27, 1947” in his hand. Adaptation of Brecht’s famous The Threepenny Opera, translated by Desmond I. Vesey ad Christopher Isherwood. Brecht is cited as an important influence not just on Elmslie but also his partner of the 1950s, librettist and lyricist John La Touche, for whom the goal of translating The Threepenny Opera was an unrealized fixation. Fair condition, spine cocked and loose at backstrip, dampstaining to board edges resulting in some color bleed to edges of endpapers and tops of last few leaves. Item #2268
Price: $50.00