Haunts and By-Paths and Other Poems
Author: James Thorne Smith (1892-1934) inscribed
Year: 1919
Publisher: Frederick A Stokes Company
Place: New York
Description:
[iv]+139 pages. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine and pictorial design to cover in original jacket. Inscribed by the author. First edition. Inscribed "Greetings from J. Thorne Smith, Jr." on front free endpapers.
Smith's third book, his name on the title page as he signs it, to be replaced as simply Thorne Smith on his next book, the famous Topper. An unusual collection illustrating the complex soul of an author who usually sheltered behind laughter, satire and farce. Here are verses about the sea, of romance, and unexpectedly of the horrors of the Great War. Not all the poems here are equally worthy - some are a little labored for modern tastes - but they capture a range of emotions which demonstrate Thorne Smith was never just a comic writer.
Condition: rubberstamp in the shape of a heart around music, from a former owner, on front pastedown; blindstamp of Carol Sten to front flyleaf. Jacket a bit darkened, chipped along the top edge, corners and at spine head, smaller chips at spine foot and lower corners; faint stain to top portion of rear cover; light stains to endpapers else very good in like jacket. Scarce in jacket and especially so inscribed.
