New Hampshire.; A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes

New York: Henry Holt, 1923. First edition. Lankes, J.J.. Inscribed by Frost "For Raymond / from his friend in all / and through all / R.F." The inscription is to the poet Raymond Holden. Lawrance Thompson relates the story of Frost's dealings in 1919 with Holden, a young admirer who wanted to live near his idol in Franconia, N.H. Although Frost was even at the time negotiating to move on, he offered to sell Holden half of his 50-acre farm for $2,500. Holden quickly agreed and also agreed to Frost's stipulation that if the Frosts wished to move Holden would buy the remainder of the farm for another $2,500. Within a year, Frost had collected Holden's money and used it to buy a place in Massachusetts. "I reluctantly felt that he had used me as a convenience," Holden later wrote in his "Reminiscences." In this volume Frost evidently felt the need to document both the friendship and its stresses, although in a 1928 interview he named Holden as one of four younger poets who were likely to become important. When Holden wrote the New Yorker profile of Frost years later he pointed out many elements of paradox in Frost's personality and career; something he knew from personal experience. Original cloth backed boards, corners worn; very good, a clipping of a Holden poem is tipped to a rear flyleaf. New Hampshire contains the first appearance of Frost's most famous poem, "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening".