THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original purple cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, with a previous owner's name on the front endpaper and foxing to the prelims and closed text block edge, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the lightly rubbed and creased dustwrapper that is toned to the spine and rear panel edge and otherwise without loss or tears. Not price-clipped (12s 6d net to the front flap).

One of the great works of post-war British poetry and the first volume of Larkin's poetry to be published by Faber and Faber (his second novel, 'A Girl in Winter', had been published by the firm in 1947). A year later, the author was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and an Arts Council prize for "the best book of original English verse by a living poet published from July 1962 to June 1965". Published on 28 February 1964, 3910 copies of the first impression were issued. (Bloomfield A7)