Easton Press: William Cullen Bryant: American Poems

Easton Press FULL leather top-of-the-line edition of "The Poems of William Cullen Bryant," a Limited edition, Introduction by Louis Untermeyer, Engravings by Thomas Nason, one of the  MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series, published in 1981.  Bound in a Most Handsome brown Moroccan cowhide, the book has French moire silk endleaves, satin book marker, hubbed spine, 22 kt. gold gilding on three edges---in FINE condition. William Cullen Bryant, who lived from 1794-1878, was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the NEW YORK EVENING POST. Bryant was born near Cummington, Massachusetts, the second son of Peter Bryant, a doctor and later a state legislator, and Sarah Snell. His maternal ancestry traces back to passengers on the MAYFLOWER; his father's, to colonists who arrived about a dozen years later. After just two years at WILLIAMS COLLEGE, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1815. He then began practicing law in nearby Plainfield, walking the seven miles from Cummington every day. On one of these walks, in December 1815, he noticed a single bird flying on the horizon; the sight moved him enough to write " To a Waterfowl." Bryant developed an interest in poetry early in life. He wrote little poetry while preparing to enter Williams College as a sophomore, but upon leaving Williams after a single year and then beginning to read law, he regenerated his passion for poetry, particularly, William Wordsworth. Bryant's most anthologized poem is  "THANATOPSIS." In 1821, Bryant married Frances Fairchild. Soon after, having received an invitation to address the HARVARD UNIVESITY PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY at the school's August commencement, Bryant spent months working on " The Ages," a panorama in verse of the history of civilization, culminating in the establishment of the United States. That poem led a collection, entitled Poems, which he arranged to publish on the same trip to Cambridge. For that book, he added sets of lines at the beginning and end of "Thanatopsis." His career as a poet was launched. Even so, it was not until 1832, when an expanded Poems was published in the U.S. and, with the assistance of WASHINGTON IRVING, in Britain, that he won recognition as America's leading poet. In his last decade, Bryant shifted from writing his own poetry to translating HOMER, assiduously working on the "Iliad" and "The Odyssey" from 1871 to 1874. Bryant died in 1878 of complications from an accidental fall suffered after participating in a Central Park ceremony honoring Italian patriot GIUSEPPE MAZZINI.  FOLKS, this is a SPECTACULAR volume---ALL Bryrant's Poems---a  RARE title and Out of Print. Shipping in U.S. with media postage is $4.00 or $10.00 priority shipping or actual charges world-wide.   Seller accepts PayPal or personal checks---held until check clears bank---or immediate shipment with 50 positive feedbacks on Ebay.  Good luck and see my other fine books.

William Cullen Bryant