Poems for Harry Crosby

This copy of the first edition of Poems for Harry Crosby, by Caresse Crosby, and was published by Black Sun Press in April 1931. Caresse wrote these 18 poems for Harry two years after Harry took his own life. There were 544 copies of this edition in two different states. There were 44 lettered copies (as opposed to numbered) on Hollande Van Gelder paper, which is a fine, high-quality paper; and there were 500 copies – of which this is number 18 – printed on Lafuma paper, another high-quality French paper. The binding is red cloth and white Morocco leather. Morocco leather is almost exclusively made from goat skin, which is what gives the leather that unusual pebbled or grained appearance. The frontispiece is a photo of a bust of Harry that belonged to Caresse herself

What makes this volume unique from any other is that it is inscribed by Harry F. Marks, a bookdealer with whom Carl did a lot of business and became friends over the course of their relationship, to Carl and dated September 18, 1931. Harry Marks had tried – to no avail – to be the Crosbys’ exclusive U.S. dealer. However the two parties continued to work closely together, and Marks always received early copies of Black Sun Press works to sell in the U.S., which is likely how he had this copy so soon after it was printed.