A Masque of Mercy

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1947. First trade edition, first printing. 8vo. 39 pages. Original blue cloth (lightly spotted). In the printed dust jacket (spine faded, front panel shadowed along outer edges, light wear at extremities). Provenance: Susan Pope (signature on front free endpaper). Signed by Frost on the half-title: "Robert Frost / Agnes Scott 1948." Frost first visited Agnes Scott College in 1935 for a single lecture. He returned again in 1940, and from 1945 until his death in 1963 he visited the college every winter. Each time he gave a single lecture and spent the remaining time with students and faculty, "in the president's home, in classrooms, in the library, or in the dining hall. He took late night walks around the campus and the neighborhood, and with his own key to the president's house made himself at home. His last visit to the college was in January 1962" (Agnes Scott College Special Collections). Susan Pope was a student and admirer of the poet and assembled a fine collection of books signed and/or inscribed by Frost during her years at the college. Crane A31.1. (Inventory #: 410677)