The Bridge by Harold Hart Crane, illustrated by Walker Evans

CRANE, Hart. The Bridge: a Poem. Paris, The Black Sun Press, 1930.

First edition, one of the original 284 copies, of Crane’s poetical masterpiece.

Crane is a singular figure in American poetry in that he sought a Romantic voice in the era of high Modernism. The Bridge is easily his most significant work, his answer to Eliot’s The Waste Land of the Cantos of Ezra Pound, and one which finds hope and optimism in his century where Eliot saw only despair, which is sadly ironic given Eliot’s long life and Crane’s suicide at 32. This is one of Black Sun Press’ typically beautiful productions, one of a total edition of 284. Includes the original slipcase (see below) and is otherwise an excellent copy of this scarce and much loved title, made particularly special by the inclusion of illustrative photographs by Crane’s friend, the legendary photographer Walker Evans.

The Black Sun Press was an English-language publishing house based in Paris. Founded in 1927 by American expatriates Harry and Caresse Crosby, it published the early works of influential literary figures such as Joyce, Pound, Eliot, Crane, D. H. Lawrence, and Hemingway. The books, all handset, were typographically impeccable and beautifully bound. The Black Sun Press closed in 1970, following Caresse Crosby’s death.

Quarto, edges untrimmed; a clean copy in the original printed wrappers with fold-over flaps enclosed in a glassine dust jacket, with the publisher’s silver paper-covered slipcase (glassine dust jacket, slipcase splitting along top and bottom edges).

Minkoff A-32.