/lit/ - Literature

First, I'll post some pictures from King of Dreams. Here is the copy of the book in question (from 1959), with Dunsany's quill pen laying on it.

>>23213226
Here is the inscription taken in color now.

the photograph, signed by dunsany, inscribed on the back by hazel littlefield smith

>>23213230
here is the back of the photo
it says:
>"Lord Dunsany in my garden at Ming Manor 3405 Via Palomino, Palos Verdes Estates, 1953. See page 51: Dunsany: King of Dreams for description of suit he is wearing in this photo." With her presentation inscription below "To Franklin V. Spellman from Hazel Littlefield June 1974".

Also, the poem says
>"Dunstall / July 4. 1954 / To Mrs Smith where chestnut trees / And yews & beeches are, / And thyme & foxgloves feeding bees, / from California far. / Dunsany."

the photograph in King of Dreams.

Here is the included letter from Dunsany to Hazel Littlefield.

>"Dear Hazel,

>I was delighted to hear you were coming, tho' disppointed, when I read further, to hear for how short a time, & for part of even that time in Scotland & London. Applecross is lovely, but you will be more welcome here, &, as far as London, I will leave you to make your own comparison between our nightingales & the spring-song of its motors. Nor can the nightingales be heard every night &, to be sure of them, you have to stay some time. But the dates are just right, the middle of May to very early in June. Anyway make this your permanent addres for so long as you are in these islands. The country should be at its best then. It is not the time for London. If you stay longer on this side than you have planned, we shall still be here, & hope you may be too. If you will come earlier than late in may, which your letter mentions, we can promise you nightingales. Thank you very much for the clippiong from Guatamala. It is very encouraging to hear they are reading me still. I think my very first translator was a Columbian, & I remember the gorgeousness of a language that transmuted my lighted windows into miradores of illumination. I can't quite read Spanish, but I know the roots of most of the words, because they nearly all grew out of Latin. I repeat - don't waste to much of this Spring in London. i have just come out into our verandah to write the rest of this. So Spring is here.
>Willow never writes to me.

>Did you meet the poet Alfred Noyes when he lived in California? We were staying with them last week in the Isle of Wight.

>Yours ever

>Dunsany"

Hazel discussing Dunsany's suit he is wearing in the photo, as well as how he inscribed her King of Elfland's Daughter (I do not have this yet)

anyway, that's pretty much all from me today.

I hope I convince other anons here to read Dunsany. Also, starting with his biographys and memoirs is a good place. He was such an interesting man.

I also purchased another Elfland's Daughter with a near fine jacket (so rare you have no idea). I haven't received it yet though, as its coming from Canada. It belonged to the library of the Irish priest Father John O' Connor, who the character 'father brown' was based off of.

I will post detailed photos when I receive it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O%27Connor_(priest)

>>23213267
>I hope I convince other anons here to read Dunsany
I have The Gods of Pegāna, what I'm in for?

>>23213225
Right on, I was looking at that one. There's copies of Don Rodriguez for less than a grand I might look into. I kind of want to check out the Jorkens books, kind of sucks the 2002 collected Jorkens release sells for so much these days, almost better off just buying the first editions.

>>23213617
It really doesn’t.
I saw it go for $120 last month in a bid. Just be patient.
>>23213372
The first Silmarillion.

>>23213658
>>23213372
By the way to compare Dunsany to Tolkien is kind of an insult to Dunsany. Dunsany was the better writer, the better poet, and had a superior sense of humor and wit.

I already read the gods of pegana on the internet a few months ago. what do I read by Dunsany next? Are there hardcover collections of his stuff that don't cost more than a hundred bucks or should I just go paperback? I don't give a shit about le hobbit man

>>23213753
Most Dunsany books are pretty cheap online. What do you want to read? His short stories? His poetry? His short story collections? Just read his bibliography in order, starting with Time and the Gods. The Sword of Welleran. The Book of Wonder. The Last Book of Wonder. The King of Elfland's Daughter. The Chronicles of Rodriguez. The Charwoman's Shadow. Curse of Wise Woman. Jorkens. etc.

>>23213658
>I saw it go for $120 last month in a bid. Just be patient.
Yea I'll keep an eye out, I don't really have many old rare books. The 2 that stand out are a first edition of The Sword and the Centuries by Alfred Hutton from 1901, and a first edition of The Science of Wrestling and the Art of Jiu Jitsu by Earle E. Liederman from 1923. Neither are really worth a huge amount of money but I also didn't pay much for them. The Liederman book is in excellent condition.

Most of Dunsany's works were republished as paperbacks in the 70s and short story collections. Posting.

This wonderful lot I won a few years ago in an auction for just $20

THE WHIRLPOOL

Once going down to the shore of the great sea I came upon the Whirlpool lying prone upon the sand and stretching his huge limbs in the sun.

I said to him: “Who art thou?”

And he said:

“I am named Nooz Wāna, the Whelmer of Ships, and from the Straits of Pondar Obed I am come, wherein it is my wont to vex the seas. There I chased Leviathan with my hands when he was young and strong; often he slipped through my fingers, and away into the weed forests that grow below the storms in the dusk on the floor of the sea; but at last I caught and tamed him. For there I{156} lurk upon the ocean’s floor, midway between the knees of either cliff, to guard the passage of the Straits from all the ships that seek the Further Seas; and whenever the white sails of the tall ships come swelling round the corner of the crag out of the sunlit spaces of the Known Sea and into the dark of the Straits, then standing firm upon the ocean’s floor, with my knees a little bent, I take the waters of the Straits in both my hands and whirl them round my head. But the ship comes gliding on with the sound of the sailors singing on her decks, all singing songs of the islands and carrying the rumour of their cities to the lonely seas, till they see me suddenly astride athwart their course, and are caught in the waters as I whirl them round my head. Then I draw in the waters of the Straits towards me and downwards, nearer and nearer to my terrible feet, and hear in my ears above the roar of{157} my waters the ultimate cry of the ship; for just before I drag them to the floor of ocean and stamp them asunder with my wrecking feet, ships utter their ultimate cry, and with it go the lives of all the sailors and passes the soul of the ship. And in the ultimate cry of ships are the songs the sailors sing, and their hopes and all their loves, and the song of the wind among the masts and timbers when they stood in the forest long ago, and the whisper of the rain that made them grow, and the soul of the tall pine-tree or the oak. All this a ship gives up in one cry which she makes at the last. And at that moment I would pity the tall ship if I might; but a man may feel pity who sits in comfort by his fireside telling tales in the winter—no pity are they permitted ever to feel who do the work of the gods; and so when I have brought her circling from round my shoulders to my waist and thence, with{158} her masts all sloping inwards, to my knees, and lower still and downwards till her topmast pennants flutter against my ankles, then I, Nooz Wāna, Whelmer of Ships, lift up my feet and trample her beams asunder, and there go up again to the surface of the Straits only a few broken timbers and the memories of the sailors and of their early loves to drift for ever down the empty seas.

>>23213808
“Once in every hundred years, for one day only, I go to rest myself along the shore and to sun my limbs on the sand, that the tall ships may go through the unguarded Straits and find the Happy Isles. And the Happy Isles stand midmost among the smiles of the sunny Further Seas, and there the sailors may come upon content and long for nothing; or if they long for aught, they shall possess it.

“There comes not Time with his devouring hours; nor any of the evils of the gods or{159} men. These are the islands whereto the souls of the sailors every night put in from all the world to rest from going up and down the seas, to behold again the vision of far-off intimate hills that lift their orchards high above the fields facing the sunlight, and for a while again to speak with the souls of old. But about the dawn dreams twitter and arise, and circling thrice around the Happy Isles set out again to find the world of men, then follow the souls of the sailors, as, at evening, with slow stroke of stately wings the heron follows behind the flight of multitudinous rooks; but the souls returning find awakening bodies and endure the toil of the day. Such are the Happy Isles, whereunto few have come, save but as roaming shadows in the night, and for only a little while.

“But longer than is needed to make me strong and fierce again I may not stay, and{160} at set of sun, when my arms are strong again, and when I feel in my legs that I can plant them fair and bent upon the floor of ocean, then I go back to take a new grip upon the waters of the Straits, and to guard the Further Seas again for a hundred years. Because the gods are jealous, lest too many men shall pass to the Happy Isles and find content. For the gods have not content.

>>23213225
Honestly I'm happy for you, anon

>>23213828
thanks.
I'm glad some people on /lit/ appreciate Dunsany.

ON THE DRY LAND

Over the marshes hung the gorgeous night with all his wandering bands of nomad stars, and his whole host of still ones blinked and watched.

Over the safe dry land to eastward, grey and cold, the first clear pallor of dawn was coming up above the heads of the immortal gods.

Then, as they neared at last the safety of the dry land, Love looked at the man whom he had led for so long through the marshes, and saw that his hair was white, for it was shining in the pallor of the dawn.

Then they stepped together on to the land, and the old man sat down weary on the grass,{240} for they had wandered in the marshes for many years; and the light of the grey dawn widened above the heads of the gods.

And Love said to the old man, “I will leave you now.”

And the old man made no answer, but wept softly.

Then Love was grieved in his little careless heart, and he said: “You must not be sorry that I go, nor yet regret me, nor care for me at all.

“I am a very foolish child, and was never kind to you, nor friendly. I never cared for your great thoughts, or for what was good in you, but perplexed you by leading you up and down the perilous marshes. And I was so heartless that, had you perished where I led you, it would have been nought to me, and I only stayed with you because you were good to play with.

“And I am cruel and altogether worthless{241} and not such a one as any should be sorry for when I go, or one to be regretted, or even cared for at all.”

And still the old man spoke not, but wept softly; and Love grieved bitterly in his kindly heart.

And Love said: “Because I am so small my strength has been concealed from you, and the evil that I have done. But my strength is great, and I have used it unjustly. Often I pushed you from the causeway through the marshes, and cared not if you drowned. Often I mocked you, and caused others to mock you. And often I led you among those that hated me, and laughed when they revenged themselves upon you.

“So weep not, for there is no kindness in my heart, but only murder and foolishness, and I am no companion for one so wise as you, but am so frivolous and silly that I laughed{242} at your noble dreams and hindered all your deeds. See now, you have found me out, and now you will send me away, and here you will live at ease, and, undisturbed, have noble dreams of the immortal gods.

“See now, here is dawn and safety, and there is darkness and peril.”

Still the old man wept softly.

Then Love said: “Is it thus with you?” and his voice was grave now and quiet. “Are you so troubled? Old friend of so many years, there is grief in my heart for you. Old friend of perilous ventures, I must leave you now. But I will send my brother soon to you—my little brother Death. And he will come up out of the marshes to you, and will not forsake you, but will be true to you as I have not been true.”

>>23213857
And dawn grew brighter over the immortal gods, and the old man smiled through his tears, which glistened wondrously in the{243} increasing light. But Love went down to the night and to the marshes, looking backward over his shoulder as he went, and smiling beautifully about his eyes. And in the marshes whereunto he went, in the midst of the gorgeous night, and under the wandering bands of nomad stars, rose shouts of laughter and the sounds of the dance.

And after a while, with his face towards the morning, Death out of the marshes came up tall and beautiful, and with a faint smile shadowy on his lips, and lifted in his arms the lonely man, being gentle with him, and, murmuring with his low deep voice an ancient song, carried him to the morning to the gods.

>>23213225
thanks for sharing this with all us Dunsanybros :)

>>23213890
you're welcome.
more to come next month

>>23213225
Congrats, you spent too much to buy a story. After all, that's really all you're paying for, its provenance.

>>23214160
>it's a book that dunsany once held
>signed with his own quill pen he made from scratch
>poem
>letter
>real photograph of dunsany that appears in his biography, signed by him
>I had to pay more
okay but what's wrong with that?

>>23214160
When you have a passion, money is no object. Pinching pennies will only lead to griping about sore fingers.

>>23214172
>>23214175
There's nothing wrong with it other than your sentimentalism being exploited.

>>23214182
But I rather have the book than $1850 + tax + shipping.

Who is being exploited actually?

>>23214184
You, because you're placing far greater value on it as a sentimental decoration than for its content. It's simply crass consumerism that makes a mockery of art.

>>23214193
You do not get the poem, written by Dunsany's own hand, the beautiful letter, and the 1 of 1 photograph signed by him (probably one of just a couple in the world) by buying the book. That's not consumerism. There is ephemera here that is apart from the book itself. You are ignoring that.

>>23214196
Yes, that same argument is used for the collector's edition of any media. Look at all the bonuses it has, don't you want to pay much more for this extra items? You aren't getting any closer to him. They aren't becoming part of you. It's just stuff that you've decided has sentimental value to you. I'm not ignoring it. That's part of the story and its provenance. I'm not saying you shouldn't have bought it or spent that much. I'm simply saying it's no noble, worthy, or otherwise great thing. Clearly, as you've posted it here, it's main value is showing it off to demonstrate what sort of person you want others to believe yourself to be.

>>23214182
>exploited.
>crass consumerism
Yeah I hate being exploted. Why buy anything when you can sleep on the floor and eat wet oats all day. No one should enjoy anything that costs money that's lame, I'd rather stare at the plaster and meditate on how much money I saved by not enjoying anything.

>>23214218
>Yes, that same argument is used for the collector's edition of any media
It's an insult to compare this 1/1 Dunsany association copy to a collector's edition. Disgusting.

do you guys use whatnot?

>>23214221
It's literally a one-off collection of items and you are a collector.

>>23214218
>How dare you post rare editions of literature on my literature board
Are you one of those ereader fags? touch grass.

>>23214225
I'm not arguing with you anymore.
If you don't like history and maintaining it then that's your thing. Me? I love history, and I love Lord Dunsany and I want to keep these treasures and maintain them for the next generation. This particular copy of Don R has a loose hinge, you can see that here:
>>23213228

Bet your ass I'll be paying $500 to have that professionally repaired.

>>23214230
You aren't maintaining history.

>itt: boomers convince people that a book is valuable because it's old and sat on some dude's shelf
Just get a reprint and spend your money on something with real value.

Imagine getting upset with OP for spending his own money on something he likes.

>>23214242
He really manages to rustle some jimmies with something so innocent and harmless. Just like in shelf threads, majorly sour grapes come out of the woodwork

>>23214242
>>23214247
People have an aversion to watching other people do dumb shit.

>>23214256
>dumb shit.
like cry about other people's book purchases in a book thread?

I bought a baseball bat Babe Ruth once used, a cap he wore, and an autographed baseball by him! I'm maintaining history! I want to keep these treasures and maintain for the next generation.

I bought the videogame cartridge, console, and TV that were used to set a world record in this game that hasn't been beaten all these years later! (repeat above)

I bought an outfit that Napoleon Bonaparte once wore along with some scribbles he made! (repeat above)

I bought the marbles used by the champion of the inaugural British and World Marbles Championship in 1588! (repeat above)

It's all the same. It's not any different because it's books.

>>23214272
all of those things would be worth buying, besides the marbles, and would likely be resold at a higher price, what are you going to do, get your 2% interest in your savings account? buy 5 Nvidia stocks?

>>23214276
As far as I know OP has no interest in reselling them.

>>23214278
in time, everything gets sold

>>23214278
projection
just sold one for $2800 profit last week

>>23214286
Oh, ok, so much for maintaining history and so on. Entirely for commerical purposes, good on you.

>>23214288
>more projection
you're a weak minded cretin of ill-repute and many people here laugh at you.

>>23214289
I'm not one going with the greater fool theory.

>>23214288
dude just go back to your e-reader, you can't be satisfied

>>23214256
What’s dumb? Clearly OP is passionate about it. Good for him. I don’t buy those types of collectible books but I take pride in my book collection (yes, I read it too)

Guys, stop giving him attention. I have been posting here for two years and he does this nearly every thread.

>>23214286
>Sending $3200 to a guy with 4 feedback as a seller
I know eBay has buyer protection but that's still a bold move.

>>23214301
I'm a well known collector I trade mostly on grps and not ebay. In this case, the one who bought the item knows me, and he is a massive dealer in the community himself.

>>23214297
You've only been using this name and tripcode since March 17th, a week ago. Similar for thread name.

>>23214305
you sure about that?
https://archived.moe/lit/search/subject/Collectors%20/

>>23214302
If he knows you why go through eBay? Either you or the buyer could have saved 15%.

>>23214309
Ebay still has buyer protection and it's shipping overseas. Dangerous business that is.

>>23213225
Based as always

Elephant anon. I appreciate these posts about rare books, I really do, I doubt there's many actually documenting the contents of these books, but where the hell do you get the funds for all these purchases? You the heir to a multi-million fortune or something?

The biggest attention-seeking faggot on this board.

>>23214650
Thanks but can we stop talking about how much they are worth. It’s not about the money. These treasures are worth more than the paper I spent on them.

>>23214650
If you are over the age of 22 you should easily afford a $5-10k purchase without blinking

>>23214218
Good and correct post. I say this as an anon with a personal library of a thousand or so volumes, many of them antiquarian, several of those 'rare' or with which I have a particular sentimental attachment.

It's fine to 'collect' things that you appreciate and enjoy, provided you aren't neglecting other parts of your life to do so. But as anon said, there is nothing inherently noble about it, especially when you feel compelled to repeatedly show off your latest acquisition in pursuit of (you)s.

To make this post actually /lit/ related, I'd recommend Evan Connell's 'The Connoisseur' for a wonderfully subtle take on (and possible take-down of) this precise subject.

>>23215547
AI post

>>23215558
Sorry, but these are not AI hands typing this post.

>>23214286
auction or as-is price?

>>23215663
It was a $3200 offer on a $3900 listing. Also lol at $16.95 shipping for that price.

>>23215766
It clearly says $74 for shipping. Plus it shipped to the UK. Why should the seller pay for shipping? U wot m8? Especially for a signed item that costs $3200? Do you even know how shipping collectibles works. There are insurance fees

>le collect

>>23214230

Give it to a museum then you retard, nobody else can enjoy it when it's sat in a hermetically sealed glass case watching you wank in your computer chair every night.

>>23215492
Eh, fair. I admit I'm a wee bit jelly, but with an attitude like that I can't really begrudge you for it.

>>23216221
>It’s the only one not in a museum.

Deluxe Issue, limited to 500 hand numbered copies signed by both Lord Dunsany and Sidney Sime, of which this is copy number 3. Large Quarto. Quarter vellum spine with brown cloth boards with single gilt rule, leather spine label with gilt titles, top edge gilt, marbled end papers. 322 pages. Frontispiece by Sidney H. Sime is signed in ink by the illustrator in the lower margin. Dunsany's signature appears in most copies underneath the Preface, but, curiously, not in this one. Instead, this is an important association copy, with the bookplate of Dunsany's friend and biographer Hazel Littlefield Smith on front pastedown and an inscription to her in Dunsany's characteristic pen on the front free endpaper:

"Dunstall / July 4. 1954 / To Mrs Smith where chestnut trees / And yews & beeches are, / And thyme & foxgloves feeding bees, / from California far. / Dunsany."

A near fine copy: a few small smudges to the vellum spine, inner front hinge lightly cracked; in theoriginal printed dust jacket which has some creases, small tears and a few bits of cellophane tape on the verso. A photograph of this copy (along with Dunsany's quill pen) appears in Hazel Littlefield Smith's biography LORD DUNSANY: King of Dreams [Exposition Press, 1959]. Dunsany regularly visited Mrs. Smith on his trips to California, staying with her at "Ming Manor" on the Palos Verdes Penninsula. Hazel Littlefield Smith had a substantial collection of inscribed Lord Dunsany first editions - most were inscribed with an original poem by Dunsany. The majority of these books - 44 inscribed volumes - were presented as a gift to the University of Michigan in 1973. This copy, retained by Mrs. Smith at the time (likely as it was one of her favourites) was acquired by noted antiquarian bookseller Franklin V. Spellman, from whose estate we received it.

Accompanying this copy is an original 8 x 10 black & white photograph of Dunsany wearing a suit and standing in the garden at Ming Manor in 1953, signed by Dunsany in ink to the lower right corner "Dunsany", with notes in pen by Hazel Littlefield "Lord Dunsany in my garden at Ming Manor 3405 Via Palomino, Palos Verdes Estates, 1953. See page 51: Dunsany: King of Dreams for description of suit he is wearing in this photo." With her presentation inscription below "To Franklin V. Spellman from Hazel Littlefield June 1974".

>>23216330
>>23216330
Also accompanying this copy is a 2-page Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) by Dunsany to Mrs. Littlefield Smith, on blue Air Mail paper, return address Dunstall Priory, Sevenoaks, Kent, dated April 22, 1957. Written in his traditional quill pen, the letter reads:

"Dear Hazel,

I was delighted to hear you were coming, tho' disppointed, when I read further, to hear for how short a time, & for part of even that time in Scotland & London. Applecross is lovely, but you will be more welcome here, &, as far as London, I will leave you to make your own comparison between our nightingales & the spring-song of its motors. Nor can the nightingales be heard every night &, to be sure of them, you have to stay some time. But the dates are just right, the middle of May to very early in June. Anyway make this your permanent addres for so long as you are in these islands. The country should be at its best then. It is not the time for London. If you stay longer on this side than you have planned, we shall still be here, & hope you may be too. If you will come earlier than late in may, which your letter mentions, we can promise you nightingales. Thank you very much for the clippiong from Guatamala. It is very encouraging to hear they are reading me still. I think my very first translator was a Columbian, & I remember the gorgeousness of a language that transmuted my lighted windows into miradores of illumination. I can't quite read Spanish, but I know the roots of most of the words, because they nearly all grew out of Latin. I repeat - don't waste to much of this Spring in London. i have just come out into our verandah to write the rest of this. So Spring is here.
Willow never writes to me.

Did you meet the poet Alfred Noyes when he lived in California? We were staying with them last week in the Isle of Wight.

Yours ever

Dunsany"

>>23216330
>>23216341

Yeah that's great, it doesn't change the fact that OP is a massive faggot shill with the antiquarian delusion that keeping some old book (by a third rate literal who writer at that) in his possession is going to have any historical relevance or value to "future generations". Get a fucking grip.

>>23216633
Fixating on this is not healthy for you. It’s time to go outside anon.

>>23213225
Dunsany is like Clark Ashton Smith, a big HPL influence that I never was able to get into. Nice books though.

>>23216633
Why don’t you avoid the threads if it bothers you so much? Following him around like a puppy to seethe at him for how he spends his money and for his interest in collecting, it’s not a good look and speaks about you as a person

>>23213225
I'm so glad you decided to post about your book every day now.

>>23217438
His last thread was about elfland daughter not this 1

there's a guy who hates you for some reason
>>23212589

>>23213225
Very impressive. I'm sure anyone who knows who Rodriguez, Hazel Littlefield Smith, or Dunsany are would pay top dollar.

>>23217452
All of Hazel Littlefield Smith’s collection of 41 Dunsany inscribed poems and books went to the university of Michigan, except for this one.
https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/990039194270106381?query=author%3A%22Littlefield%2C+Hazel%2C+1889-1988.%22&library=All+libraries

>>23215492
>It’s not about the money.
But you also sell books. So it's about the money.

>>23217468
>a collector also sells books sometimes
SAY IT ISNT SO!

>>23217469
>>23217419
>>23216644
>>23214291
>>23214247
>>23214242
I hope these and more are OP rather than one or more anons white knighting for him.

>>23217602
Kys you autistic fuck

>>23217610
>living in California
lol

>>23217620
>seething because of where people live or what they do with their money

>>23217623
To be using this much copium you must be able to get it at deeply discounted bulk rates. Who's your supplier?

>>23217633
Relax. It’s past your bedtime.