The Land [together with] The Garden

London: William Heinemann / Michael Joseph [through 1946], 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine+. A splendid set (two first impressions) of the author's long narrative poems, each evoking a bucolic idyll. The Land: 8vo: [10],108pp. Publisher's burnt orange buckram, paper title label printed in red to spine (extra label, as issued, attached to colophon leaf), fore- and bottom edges uncut, in the marvelous cream dust jacket printed in black and illustrated by George Plank (who also created dozens of covers for Vogue magazine in an art-deco style), priced 6/- on spine panel. An exceptional copy, one of only 1,000 printed, tight, square and unread; about Fine jacket (back panel lightly dust-soiled). Chosen for the Hawthornden Prize, in 1927. The Garden: Tall, slim 8vo: 134,[1]pp, with title-page vignette, section openers, and tailpieces by Broom Lynne. Publisher's burnt orange cloth, spine stamped in silver, top edge stained terracotta, terracotta floral end papers; matching illustrated dust jacket (price-clipped), lettered in black. Fine, in better than Near Fine jacket (spine lightly toned, ends nicked). Chosen for the Heinemann Prize, which Sackville-West spent on azaleas for the garden at Sissinghurst. Cross & Ravenscroft-Hulme A.13a and A.44a. The Land, dedicated to Sackville-West's lover Dorothy Wellesley, "was an ambitious attempt to write a modern version of Virgil's Georgics by celebrating the annual round of the Kentish farming year." It proved enduringly popular, selling more than 100,000 copies, and has been reprinted more than 20 times in England alone. Divided into four sections according to the seasons, with vivid descriptions of the toil of ploughmen, craftsmen, beekeepers, and shepherds. Twenty years later came The Garden, a bit briefer than The Land and also divided into season. It is more personal and less sweeping than the earlier poem, and tries to sum up Sackville-West's horticultural aesthetic as displayed in the garden at Sissinghurst, with its linked sections "distinguished by predominant colour themes (such as the influential white garden), or by concentration on the flowers of a certain season . . . " (ODNB) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.) Satisfaction guaranteed.