Smith, William Jay — Celebration at Dark

New York, Farar, Straus and Company, 1950. First Edition. Hardcover. Size: 16mo 6" - 7" tall. Good-looking, structurally sound hardcover, bound simply, signed by the Poet Laureate at title page, inscribed warmly to two friends, thusly: "For Elsie and Richard, these early efforts, in celebration of our friendship, with love, Bill, 9 February 2005." Dust jacket present, price-clipped, mildly soiling, a bit of chipping to spine head, else intact, foxed interior. Short, small octavo format, 48 pp., and covered in stiff Mylar jacket. This was the Vermont-born Smith's very first trade edition volume after the publication of a Banyan Press limited edition of this title. Born in 1918, son of a professional soldier, graduate of Washington University, then a student also at Columbia University and eventually Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship. The Poetry Foundation dot org web-site entry about him notes: "Known for the diverse form and content of his work, and celebrated for the careful craft and antic humor of his verse, William Jay Smith was the author over 50 books of poetry for adults and children . . . He served in the US Naval Reserves during World War II, and afterward met and married the poet Barbara Howes. . . . [H]e taught and lectured at many universities, including Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, where he worked for over a decade. He served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1960 to 1962. He also developed a reputation for his translations of French, Russian, Hungarian and Swedish poets." Richard Purdy Wilbur, the signee, was a United States poet laureate, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, a celebrated literary translator himself, and a beloved college professor, best friend and colleague to William Jay Smith, two Poets Laureate.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. . Signed by Author. . Very Good/Good,