Cathay, Poems After Li Po

New York: The Limited Editions Club [Printed at Horton Tank Graphics], 1992. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Clemente, Francesco. Number 269 of 300 copies, quarto size, 41 pp., signed by Francesco Clemente, with LEC Monthly Newsletter. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (1885-1972) was a major figure in the early modernist movement; his early poetry was devoted to the development of Imagism, a movement derived from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry, stressing clarity, precision and economy of language. Of this work, "Cathay", Chinese critic Wai-lim Yip writes: "One can easily excommunicate Pound from the Forbidden City of Chinese studies, but it seems clear that in his dealings with Cathay, even when he is given only the barest details, he is able to get into the central concerns of the original author by what we may perhaps call a kind of clairvoyance" (n. b., above info from Wikipedia).

___DESCRIPTION: Full light blue-grey linen, embossed decoration on the front board, all text pages french fold, the seven colour woodcuts bound in throughout the text; type Monotype Lutetia, text printed on handmade Japanese Ogawashi paper, large quarto in size (almost 11.75" tall), pagination: [i-iv] [1] 2-34 [35-36] [1 colophon], one of 300 copies, this number 269, signed by the Francesco Clemente. Monthly newsletter loosely laid in. Publisher's slipcase bound in matching blue-grey linen and lined with light blue velveteen.

___CONDITION: Volume is fine overall, the binding is clean and not sunned, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, perfectly straight corners with no rubbing, the interior is clean and bright, and it is entirely free of prior owner markings; the colophon page has some shallow unintended creases at the gutter, else fine. The monthly newsletter is fine, with only the original fold and no edgewear. The matching slipcase is fine overall, strong and sturdy; there is one short, light mark on the back, else fine.

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