INTIMATIONS OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND POEMS by Cawein, Madison - 1894

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1894. Hard Cover. Very Good binding. Small octavo. vii, [1], 208 pp. First edition, limited to 350 copies. Signed and inscribed by Cawein on the front free endpaper. "Compliments of the Author" slip laid in. In original cloth, top edge gilt. Boards a trifle soiled and spine with minimal toning; generally, an attractive copy. Womans Club, Richmond, VA bookplate on the front pastedown; residue from bookplate removal on the rear endpapers, otherwise clean.

Today the Kentucky poet, Cawein is most often discussed in relation to his 1913 poem titled, "Waste Land" from which T. S. Eliot derived inspiration for his 1922 modernist masterpiece "The Waste Land." Most of his short career, Cawein was generally a romantic poet but towards the end of his life shifted directions. Many scholars consider Cawein's "Waste Land" an early example of modernism.