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113 ORPEN, Sir William. An Onlooker in France, 1917–1919. London: Williams and Norgate, 1921 with an original drawing by orpen of a british tommy: “the fighting man he loved” First edition, warmly inscribed by the author on the first publisher’s blank, “To Leonard & Bettie Deas with love and thanks for buying this book. And in memory of happy days at Howth. William Orpen, London October 1921”, with an original pencil drawing. Presentation copies of Orpen’s book are extremely uncommon; this example, inscribed with a war drawing for a soldier and his wife, is exceptional. As almost all of Orpen’s war work – 138 works and undoubtedly the most important part of his artistic output – was donated by him to the British government, now at the IWM, surviving war drawings or paintings are rare on the market. The recipients of this copy were Colonel Leonard Joseph Montagu Deas MB FRCS (1873–1952), of the Indian Medical Service, and his wife, Elizabeth Margaret. The inscription makes reference to “happy days at Howth”; from 1909 to 1912 Orpen and his family spent every August on the coast at Howth Head, the beautiful promontory north-east of Dublin that affords panoramic views of the Irish Sea to the east and Bray Head, the Wicklow Hills, and Great Sugar Loaf mountain to the south. These weeks he celebrated in a number of paintings, most particularly in “Grace reading at Howth Bay” (private collection) and “A Breezy Day, Howth” (Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin). Orpen rented a house
111 OLIVER, Mary. Dream Work. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986 “you do not have to be good” First edition, the very scarce cloth issue, signed by the author on the title page. This volume, which includes the first appearance of her best known poem “Wild Geese”, is rarely found signed. Octavo. Original black cloth-backed blue paper-covered boards, spine lettered in gilt, publisher’s device blind- stamped to front cover. With dust jacket. A lovely copy, square and bright, minor nick to foot of spine and jacket spine panel, else fine. £4,500 [157134] 112 OLIVER, Mary. New and Selected Poems. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992 & 2005 First editions, cloth issues, each signed by the author on the title page, and very seldom found together having been published two decades apart. These two volumes constitute the collected works of Mary Oliver, complete with all her major poems. Volume 1 won Oliver the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992. 2 works, octavo. Vol. 1: original grey cloth-backed purple boards, spine lettered in silver, with dust jacket. Vol. 2: original tan cloth-backed brown boards, spine lettered in gilt, with dust jacket. A very good set, dust jacket spine sunned to vol. 2, otherwise fine. £3,500 [156972]
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there from the Bellingham family and it is possible that Leonard Deas may have taken a neighbouring property while on leave from service in India. During the war Deas served on the Western Front between November 1914 and December 1915 (not with Orpen, who was then in Mesopotamia). Orpen left for France as an official war artist in April 1917, “and for the next four years was totally immersed in the war and its aftermath. His output, and its overall excellence, makes him the outstanding war artist of that period, possibly the greatest war artist produced in Britain” ( ODNB ). Large octavo (241 × 178 mm). Contemporary dark yellowish green calf, gilt lettered direct to the spine, light yellowish green buckram boards, top edge gilt, pale pink and blue Fantasy pattern marbled endpapers. Sepia-toned half-tone portrait frontispiece of Earl Haig and 95 similar plates. A little rubbed at extremities, spine sunned to moderate reddish brown, tan burn to free endpapers, foxing to endpapers and edges, minor encroachment into the margins, overall very good. ¶ Falls, pp. 222–3. £6,500 [157252]
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CHRISTMAS 2022
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