Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot

Though Ash Wednesday does mark the shift to Eliot’s later style and turning to the church, there is I think a strong argument to read it, with its weighty anaphora and endless citations, as more of a continuation or even hardening of Eliot’s lifelong poetic project than a dramatic break. This is an essentially unique copy of the first US edition, beautifully published by Fountain Press, New York, in 1930, because of the 400 copies reserved for US sale that were printed at Curwen Press this is unnumbered and unsigned and bears the Curwen Press’ own library label affixed to the inside cover. The linen- backed boards bear a green pattern that differs from other published versions, suggesting this was a trial copy later kept for the house’s archive.