THE DAFFODIL MURDERER. Being the Chantrey Prize Poem by Saul Kain.
Pp. 32(last colophon, verso blank); orange paper wrappers, printed in red, a trifle foxed, edges faintly faded, with short split to top edge centre of upper wrapper; book label on verso of upper wrapper, the outer leaves slightly browned, a little foxing to margins and edges of leaves; John Richmond, London, 1913. First edition. Keynes A10. *A pseudonymous parody of John Masefield's early poetry. (The protagonist of The Everlasting Mercy, the work that made Masefield famous in 1911, was Saul Kane., and a 1913 poem was titled The Daffodil Fields). The 'Chantrey Prize' was fictitious, and the publisher ('John Richmond') and the writer of the Preface ('William Butler') were pseudonyms of the poet, journalist and publisher T. W. H. Crosland, who initially suggested that Sassoon should adopt the pseudonym 'Peter Expletive' for this work. Keynes (p. 32) quotes Sasson recalling 'While continuing to burlesque Masefield for all I was worth, I was really feeling what I wrote - and doing it not only with abundant delight but a sense of descriptive energy quite unlike anything I had experienced before.'. Item #182724
Price: $1,500.00