Alcools. Poèmes 1898 - 1913 by Guillaume Apollinaire

Sometimes described as the first truly Modernist work of poetry, or the literary equivalent of Cubism because of its capacity for simultaneity (and the fact the poet coined that term), ‘Alcools’ is indispensable to the story of the changing shape of poetry in the 20th century, and arguably Apollinaire’s foremost achievement. The works were written during the wild years of Paris in the early 20th century, a scene in which Apollinaire was at the centre, serving as Picasso’s prime literary muse (a portrait of him by the artist is included here) and even getting arrested with him for the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. This is a fantastic copy of the true first, published by Mercure de France in a run of 1000 of which this is 766.