Love Songs.

New York: Macmillan Company,, 1917. First edition, first printing, scarce in the jacket, of the poetry collection by the "American Sappho" that won the first Columbia University Poetry Society Prize (later renamed the Pulitzer Prize) and the Poetry Society of America Prize in 1918. Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) was one of the most popular female poets of the early 20th century. "In a career remarkable for the growth it displayed as she moved from girlish sentimentality to an unflinching awareness of the pain of life, Sara Teasdale fashioned lyrics of exquisite musicality with such skill that they seem totally natural even when they are in fact perfect examples of formal meters. Originally concerned with the particular problems of women in love, Teasdale moved forward to face the tragedy of all humanity confronting the inevitability of death" (ANB). Following her divorce in 1928, Teasdale embarked upon a close relationship with a young student, Margaret Conklin, who was appointed Teasdale's literary executor upon her death. Octavo. Original blue cloth, gilt title to spine, vignette to front cover, top edge gilt. With dust jacket. Neat gift inscription to front free endpaper. A very good copy indeed, a little offsetting to endpapers, contents mildly toned but clean and free from marks, in the very good jacket, somewhat chipped and marked, loss to foot of front panel.