Years of Protest: A Collection of American Writings from the 1930's

New York: Pegasus, 1967. Hardcover. 8vo. Light green cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. 448pp. Illustrations. Near fine/very good. Mild jacket edgewear only. A tight, quite attractive first edition of this broad anthology that (to cite front jacket flap) "offers a wide range of stories, songs, poems, and plays, as well as examples of photographs, cartoons, and paintings of the period." This copy with choice and relevant autograph addition: Tipped to front flyleaf is an Autograph Note Signed from a writer represented in this gathering -- Archibald MacLeish, whose poem "Invocation to the Social Muse" appears on page 239-40. 1p (lettersheet), 4 3/4" X 7 3/4", Conway, MA, 18 May n.y. Addressed to Arnold F. Gates (1914-93, noted Lincoln/Civil War scholar). Near fine. Single light horizontal fold. On letterhead of Boston's Ritz-Carlton, MacLeish writes this old friend in black ballpoint sending "Thanks for taking the time and trouble to write me. I appreciate very much your good wishes: may I send my own back to you," boldly signed in full. Undated, but likely contemporaneous with this book's publication. MacLeish (1892-1982) was a versatile poet, playwright, writer and man of letters awarded Pulitzer Prizes in 1933, 1952 and 1958; he also won a National Book Award and numerous other honors and was appointed Librarian of Congress in 1939 despite lack of a library science degree; in his spare time he was an attorney and Harvard writing professor!