The Dust Which Is God

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1942. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Third printing, published a few months after the first printing. Fine in a lightly worn, very good or better dustwrapper with a few tiny chips at the extremities. A semi-autobiographical novel in verse that won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1942. This copy has an Autograph Note Signed laid in from the author's brother, (and fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner) Stephen Vincent Benét, presenting the book with the following sentiment: "For my little One whom I love deeply. SVB." and dated 27 March (in Roman numerals). On the front endpaper in Stephen Vincent Benét's hand is quite a lovely and romantic six-line poem (unsigned) dated 11 January 1942 (again in Roman numerals). We have not been able to discern the source of the poem, and there is at least some reason, given the depth of feeling in the presentation, to surmise that it might be unpublished. (Inventory #: 9686)