Green Branches

New York: Macmillan, 1916. First American edition. Fine. Limited to 500 copies. A Fine copy. Octavo (8 3/16 x 5 11/16 inches; 208 x 145 mm.). 32 unnumbered leaves printed on one side only. Bound in 1922, stamp-signed "A - S 1922" in gilt on rear turn-in. Full dark green levant morocco, covers decoratively tooled in gilt with a framework of flowers and stems surrounding a gilt ruled border which in turn surrounds another gilt border with similar floral tools in the corners and top and lower edges. Spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled with the same floral design in compartments. Gilt ruled board edges, and wide turn-ins with triple gilt rules (truncated) and the same gilt flower ornaments in the corners, all edges gilt. Minimal darkening to spine. Although we have been unable to ascertain the identity of "A - S" this binding is most likely by a student of one of the great binders of the early twentieth century. It is unusual in as much as all of the six spine panels have been decoratively tooled in gilt - but with no lettering.

Radical poetry in service of Irish independence, this volume was written shortly before the Easter Rising in 1916. Its author, poet and Irish Republican James Stephens (1880-1950) used literature for political ends. His first book of poetry was titled Insurrections (1909) and he published novels and versions of Irish myths and fairy tales, as well worked at an Irish-English bilingual school. Green Branches consists of the poems The Autumn in Ireland: 1915; The Spring in Ireland: 1916 and Joy be with us. He would also publish The Insurrection in Dublin, six months after the Easter Rising, his first-hand account of the events and deaths of his compatriots. A friend of James Joyce, Stephens is remembered for his role in the Irish literary revival. Fine. (Inventory #: 6438)