A SHROPSHIRE LAD and LAST POEMS

(Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire/London): (The Alcuin Press, published by The Richards Press Limited), (1929). First Edition. Hardcover. Contents bright and fresh. Dark stain to the spine extending a bit to the front cover; about a 1/4" chip to the head of the spine just slightly affecting the lettering. Very Good and possibly unique. Publisher's pigskin leather (6-1/4" x 9-3/4") with gilt-lettered spine, printed in red and black on Batchelor hand-made paper. One of a small number with both books bound together by the publisher. Nearly all copies, while published simultaneously, were bound separately in cloth-backed boards as Housman did not want both books published in one volume. The publisher, H. P. R. Finberg, secretly had a handful bound as this copy, which is #3 of only 325 printed. What makes this an especially interesting example is its provenance and that it is SIGNED by Housman on the blank before the title page. This copy was owned by the author's brother, Laurence Housman, which likely explains the author's willingness to sign it. Laurence Housman then gave this copy to the actor and collector Vincent Price when Price was acting in Housman's play VICTORIA REGINA in 1935. Price then passed the book on to his son, who gave it to a friend. The book bears the ownership signature and notation "mcmxxxi Oxon" on the front endpaper of Smithsonian curator and book collector, Allison de la Rue who was studying at Oxford at the time of publication. The sequence of ownership between de la Rue and Laurence Housman is unclear. Included with the book is a photocopy of a note by Vincent Price stating that he received the book from Laurence Housman and presenting the book to his son. Also included are two programs for the play VICTORIA REGINA, one starring Helen Hayes, Vincent Price, and Abraham Sofaer, and the other replacing Price with Werner Bateman. The latter program is SIGNED by Hayes and Sofaer. Finally, there is a photocopy of an article by William White, "Book Collecting on a Professor's Salary," from Volume 6, #3 of THE PRIVATE LIBRARY, July 1965, that discusses the publishing history of this title and a handwritten note by the last owner of the book dated 2000 describing how he acquired the book from Price's son and his assessment of the book's travels.