THE ENORMOUS ROOM - SIGNED by Cummings. E.E - 1922

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1922. First Edition. The celebrated poet's first novel, and one of the great works of literature to emerge from World War I. Cummings drew heavily from his experiences as a volunteer ambulance driver in France, where he and his friend William Slater Brown were arrested for treason in August, 1917, after expressing anti-war sentiments in some of their letters. The Harvard-educated Cummings then found himself in the absurd situation of being imprisoned at a concentration camp with 30 other men in La Ferte-Mace in Normandy. In spite of the mends and small flaws, still the best copy of this title we've seen. Firmage A2.a. First Printing, first state, without the word "Shit!" deleted on the last line of p.219. Octavo (20.5cm); coarse tan cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [iv],viii,9-271,[1]pp. Signed by the author on the front endpaper. Decorative bookplate of Bayard L. Kilgour, Jr. on front pastedown, vintage booksellers ticket to rear pastedown, with a hint of offsetting from flaps onto endpapers, else a fresh, Fine copy. In the original pictorial dustjacket, priced $2.00 at lower spine; some discreet tape-mending to both flap folds and lower rear flap, with some neat splits along rear flap fold, and shallow loss to lower edge of same; bright and unrestored, Very Good+ or better. Housed in a custom half-morocco slipcase and chemise.