WILLIAMS, Carlos William (1883-1963). Paterson. New York: New Directions Books, 1946-1958.
5 volumes, 4to. Original light beige cloth (light toning or spotting near top edges of covers); dust jackets (tiny spot to front panel of Part I, versos of Part 1 and 3 with old cellotape repairs to spine, tiny chip to lower edge of front panel of Part 2); morocco-backed folding case.
FIRST EDITION, LIMITED TO 1,000 COPIES of the first four parts (Part V published with no limitation statement). In the preface of Part I, Williams describes this work as "a long poem in four parts." Nonetheless, Part V was published in 1958, some seven years after Part IV, and twelve years after the initial publication. "The long poem has many moods and includes quotations from letters by Pound and Ginsberg, large Seurat-like canvases of the Park on Sunday, intimate Bonnard-like interiors, uproarious comedy... his poems is written with a deep aversion to all forms of pretentiousness, rhetoric or prepared effects; it runs eddying along, broken by old letters, bits of local history and limpid love lyrics..." (Connolly). Connolly, Modern Movement 100; Wallace A24, A25, A30, A34, A44. A BRIGHT SET.
