GILBERT, Jack.

£2,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Views of Jeopardy. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed in his decorative hand on the front free endpaper, "For Jack Daley, my oldest friend - to whom these poems owe something - and whom I miss. Jack Gilbert, Pittsburgh, 7-22-1962". The author's first poetry collection showed great promise and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize - his first of three nominations throughout his life.This collection was followed by years of travel (funded by a Guggenheim fellowship), solitude, and poverty, punctuated only by occasional publications, the majority heralded with prizes. Gilbert (1925-2012) shunned publicity however, living in what he termed "a self-imposed isolation", dedicating himself to writing and romance.Linda Gregg, one of his lovers and a fellow poet, characterized Gilbert thus: "All Jack ever wanted to know was that he was awake - that the trees in bloom were almond trees - and to walk down the road to get breakfast. He never cared if he was poor or had to sleep on a park bench" (Paris Review). His Collected Poems (2012) was described by the 2013 Pulitzer committee as "a half century of poems reflecting a creative author's commitment to living fully and honestly and to producing straightforward work that illuminates everyday experience with startling clarity."This cloth issue, published on 24 January, was narrowly preceded by the paperback issue, published on 12 January.

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