A Shropshire Lad. de HOUSMAN, A. E - 1896

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. Ltd,, 1896. What are those blue remembered hills, / What spires, what farms are those? First edition, first issue, from the library of Housman's friend and fellow poet Violet Jacob, with her ownership inscription on the half-title dated October 1896, around six months after publication. A writer of Scots poetry and historical novels, Jacob (1863-1946) moved to Shropshire in 1920, where she quickly befriended Housman and fellow Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid, who led a revival of Scots poetry in the early 20th century. MacDiarmid described Jacob as "the most considerable of contemporary vernacular poets" (MacDiarmid, p. 32), and her ownership of the present volume testifies to her early interest in Housman, who often made use of Shropshire dialect and colloquialisms in his poetry. There were 500 copies of the first edition, 250 of which were bound for the first issue. There are four variants of the spine label; the present copy has the first. Octavo. Original quarter japon, white paper spine label printed in red (first issue, Carter's "A" variant), edges untrimmed. Housed in custom light brown cloth folding box. Title page printed in red and black. Neat ownership signature of one Florence Beauchamp, dated 1903, to half-title. Spine toned, boards rubbed, extremities lightly worn, contents clean and unmarked. A very good copy. Carter-Sparrow-White 2; Hayward 305.