Presentation Copy
BECKETT, Samuel.
Poems in English. New York, Grove Press, [1963].
8vo, pp. 61, [1]; a fine copy in the publisher’s teal cloth; white dustjacket printed in black, yellow and green, priceclipped, a few marks on spine else very good.
First American edition of Beckett’s first collection of poems, a presentation copy inscribed by Beckett on the title-page, ‘For Calvin and Joann’.
Calvin Israel (1919–1981) was an associate professor of English at SUNY Geneseo when he wrote a magazine article correcting an erroneous encyclopaedia entry on Beckett. Beckett read the article and began a correspondence, and they met in Paris in 1975/6, after which Beckett sent Israel a number of manuscripts, including those of ‘Whoroscope’, ‘The Vulture’, ‘Alba’, ‘Dortmunder’, ‘Da Tagte Es’, ‘Echo’s Bones’, and ‘Cascando’, all of which are printed here. A founder member of the Samuel Beckett Society, Israel built a collection of Beckett’s works, many of which he sent to Beckett to be signed – the manuscripts, ephemera, and some publications are now at Boston College, which purchased them from Israel’s widow Joann through George Minkoff in 1991.