The Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935. Chosen by W.B. Yeats. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936. First Edition. Pp xlviii, 450. India paper issue. Silk ribbon marker. Smooth navy cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to upper covers within a gilt ruled boarder. All edges in gilt. Publisher’s orange dust jacket lettered in black. Neat gift inscription to front free endpaper (Xmas 1936).

A remarkably fine copy of this anthology containing nearly 400 poems, selected from the works of British & Irish authors. With a 42-page introduction by W.B. Yeats.

Yeats, then approaching the end of his own monumental career, was tasked with editing the final volume in the Oxford Books of Verse series—a selection the publisher’s own description called one of the most difficult in the series to compile. Most of the major poets of the era appear within its pages. The Irish presence is especially strong, featuring poems by Oscar Wilde, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge, Oliver St. John Gogarty, James Joyce, W.B. Yeats himself, and James Stephens.