The Next Volume

Edward James. With decorations by Rex Whistler.

The James Press. London. 1932 [1933]. First edition. No. 53 of 525 copies, this being from the edition of 500 printed on pure rag machine-made paper. Hardback; ivory cloth-bound boards, with gilt star design to boards and title to spine, t.e.g.. vii, 86 pages. Title-page, dedication page, 4 full-page plates, numerous head- and tail-pieces, colophon device drawn by Rex Whistler. English. 285 x 195mm. 0.8kg. . Very good; slight shelf wear to boards, ivory cloth slightly marked, faint spotting to endpapers. From the library of the American industralist George Gallowhur, with his ex libris mistakenly placed upside down to rear pastedown.

A first edition of Edward James' privately-published collection of poems. The Next Volume is beautifully illustrated by Rex Whistler. Edith Olivier writes in her diary in 1932 - "Rex is making drawings for some poems by a Mr James - the best drawings I have seen of his in some ways. Such a sure touch. An amusing one of New York - skyscrapers towering over a park in which the trees look like cabbages. It has great beauty.".  James halted the binding of the first edition because "of how awful that first poem [At the Grave of Shelley] was", meaning that there are likely far fewer than the stated 525 copies. A statement on the colophon notes that he also delayed the publication of the book until January 1933 'owing to the serious illness of the author's wife [Tilly Losch]'.

[Whistler & Fuller. The Work of Rex Whistler. No. 441; Thomasson. A Curious Friendship. p. 240]