i: Six Nonlectures with: The Enormous Room by Cummings, E.E - 1953; circa 1970

Cambridge, MA; New York, NY: Harvard University Press; Random House, Inc., 1953; circa 1970. First Edition; Later Modern Library Edition. Hardcovers. Fine/Fair-Poor. "This book is the text of six Charles Eliot Norton "nonlectures" which the American poet and painter EECummings gave at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, during the autumn of 1952 and the following spring. Asserting that he himself- and everybody else; whether everybody else admits or denies it- is innately and inescapably "egocentric," Cummings here presents "an aesthetic selfportrait of one whole half "(the writing half)" of this and no other indivisible ignoramus As Is." " (from front flap) In these transcibed talks, the great twentieth-century American poet, novelist & artist Edward Estlin Cummings (known by the self-styled pen name e e cummings) expresses his ideas & quotes extensively from his poems & other writings. Harvard University, where these "nonlectures" took place, was Cummings' alma mater, & his father was a professor at that elite academic institution. Offered here is the first American hardcover edition, presumed first printing, in original dust jacket. As a bonus we are including a copy of Cummings' early novel, The Enormous Room, first published in 1922, which is a fictionalized memoir of his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War I. Random House's Modern Library series first published its edition in 1934, this copy is a later printing (circa 1960s-70s as indicated by ML motto graphics on front & rear paste-downs, endpapers) with a probably earlier-vintage clipped dust jacket circa 1949, which a previous owner short-sightedly taped the flaps of to inner front & back covers. Two classic Cummings works, one quite collectible. Volume of "nonlectures" in fine condition with only very mild rubbing, scratching to black cloth front, back covers & spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; area at/near upper edge of front cover very slightly faded; light browning & spotting to edges of text block. Interior fine with previous owner's signature & date of "Nov. 17 '53" (year of publication) on front blank endpaper; moderate browning & spotting of front, rear endpapers & pastedowns; minor spotting at thin edges & small-to-tiny bump-folds at upper corners of a few page leaves. Unclipped dust jacket in fair-to-poor condition with extensive wear to all edges & corners including creases, tears with loss of paper esp. at/near upper edges; much milder wear, browning, creasing & spotting to all other surfaces. The Enormous Room appears to be in fine condition although we are unable to inspect it fully because of jacket attachment (see above) with only very mild browning, rubbing, scratching & spot-staining to edges of text blocks; a tiny bit of wear at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine being visible. Interior very fine. Dust jacket in good-to-near-fine condition with moderate browning, rubbing, scratching & light creasing to front, back covers, esp. spine & flaps; moderate wear & a few mostly closed, short tears at edges & corners of same esp. spine; flaps taped to inner covers as noted above.