The Taking of Helen

New York: Macmillan Company. Very Good+. 1923. Limited Edition. Hardcover. First American Edition. Limited to 750 copies, this copy is number 647 and is signed by the author on the limitation page. The book is in Very Good+ condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in generally clean, bright condition. The edges of the book covers have some light toning. There is some beginning ground-in dirt to the covers as well. The text pages are clean and bright. Both endpapers have heavy patches of toning where newspaper articles have been laid-in. "In 1921 Masefield received an honorary doctorate of literature from the University of Oxford. In 1923 he organised Oxford Recitations, an annual contest whose purpose was "to discover good speakers of verse and to encourage 'the beautiful speaking of poetry'." Given the numbers of contest applicants, the event's promotion of natural speech in poetical recitations, and the number of people learning how to listen to poetry, Oxford Recitations was generally deemed a success. Masefield was similarly a founding member, in 1924, of the Scottish Association for the Speaking of Verse. He later came to question whether the Oxford events should continue as a contest, considering that they might better be run as a festival. However, in 1929, after he broke with the competitive element, Oxford Recitations came to an end. The Scottish Association for the Speaking of Verse, on the other hand, continued to develop through the influence of associated figures such as Marion Angus and Hugh MacDiarmid and exists today as the Poetry Association of Scotland. " (from Wikipedia) ; Signed by Author .