Poems of Dedication

Description

Spender, Stephen. Poems of Dedication. London: Faber & Faber, 1947. First Edition. Grey Cloth. Near Fine. 58pp. Inscribed by Spender thus: “To Ernst Robert Curtius, who translated my first and my most recent poems, in gratitude for a friendship of seventeen years, and to Ilse, from Stephen Spender January 1st 1947.” Curtius was a giant in the study of European Literature who suffered criticism from the Nazis for his championing of French literature. Spender met & studied with him in Bonn in 1929. Laid in is a German newspaper article dated december 1947 with Curtius’ pencilled notes outlining the prejudice an anonymous academic (evidently Curtius) was undergoing in his career despite his opposition to Nazism. Spender wrote of him in his Journals “… I think that as he saw so far beyond me and at the same time loved me, I owe more to him than any other older person.” Dust jacket a little worn. A truly important association copy.