Greybeards At Play: Literature and Art For Old Gentlemen.

CHESTERTON, G.K.

Greybeards At Play: Literature and Art For Old Gentlemen.

London: R. Brimley Johnson , 1900.

$7,500.00

Out of Stock Item Number: RRB-68086

Custom Clamshell Box

Hand made by the Harcourt Bindery. ~90 days

+$450

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“I LOVE TO SEE THE LITTLE STARS, ALL DANCING TO ONE TUNE, I THINK QUITE HIGHLY OF THE SUN, AND KINDLY OF THE MOON”: PRESENTATION COPY OF CHESTERTON'S GREYBEARDS AT PLAY

First edition of Chesterton's first book. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy to Violet Boileau, who was the wife of the dedicatee of this this volume. The inscription reads, "Violet Boileau- from Gilbert Chesterton You will not like my picture of a pig/ For you have pigs of every shape and size/ Who leap at your return and lick your hand/ And look up with their napt seraphic eyes/ You will not like my elephant at all/ Although you scorn scorn in pity may be sulk/ She who has passed the Belgian Custom House/ Can pity anything that has a trunk./ You will not like my pictures of my rhymes/ The scanty fruits of a distinguished mind/ There are three letters only you will like/ Three letters I leave to you to find." In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional presentation copy with an original poem, rare and desirable.

A collection of illustrated poems, Chesterton’s first published book, Greybeards at Play includes 4 premier examples of his paradoxical style of verse: The Oneness of the Philosopher with Nature, Of the Dangers Attending Altruism on the High Seas, On the Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in All Classes, and Envoy.