LAMENT FOR THE SLEEPWALKER

New York: Dodd Mead, 1947. First Edition. Navy cloth in dust jacket; 8vo. 50 pp. The poet's second book and final collection of verse. Thomson would publish a travelogue and finally a novel, his total output (other than privately printed rarities) before settling in the UK with his partner. Dana Gioia (Thomson being one of several poets he has helped to rediscover) wrote in 2015 in THE HUDSON REVIEW that "Thompson stands as a pioneering poet of gay experience and sensibility. He was one of the first poets—and certainly the best of the World War II era—to write openly about homosexual experience." Also, "Thompson ranks as one of the important English-language Catholic poets of the twentieth century." Lightly worn easily very good copy in a very good, complete (not price-clipped) dust jacket (in removable protective archival covers), lightly toned mostly on verso with small loss at head and tail. Quite scarce in the marketplace.