Thomas Merton - Seeds of Contemplation, signed limited first edition, 1949

Description: Seeds of Contemplation Thomas Merton New York: New Directions, 1949 First, limited, and signed edition Condition: FineJacket and Slipcase Condition: Very Good plus This signed and limited issue of the first edition presents a trifecta of virtues, being signed by the author, in exceptional condition, and retaining both the dust jacket and slipcase. Per the limitation statement printed on the recto following the front free endpaper, “Of this first edition, one hundred copies have been signed by the author.” The author signed “Thomas Merton” directly beneath this printed limitation statement. Monkishly apropos, the binding is coarse burlap, with paper labels affixed to the spine and front cover. Per the colophon printed on the verso of the final page of text, the contents were “printed by Peter Beilenson, Mount Vernon, New York, in the Weiss and Caslon types, on a specially-made paper.” The contents are bound with green head and tail bands and green-stained top edges. The dust jacket is printed black and green on tan, horizontally lined paper. This signed and limited issue was issued in a brown paper-covered rigid slipcase with printed labels on the right side and spine, the former specifying “ONE OF ONE HUNDRED COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR $7.50”. Condition is magnificently fine, the dust jacket and slipcase very good plus. The binding is immaculately clean, square, and tight, the fragile paper labels still perfect, the burlap pristine. The strikingly bright contents have a crisp, unread feel, with no soiling or spotting. Inked on the lower left pastedown is “Gethsemani” – the name of Merton’s Abbey above the underlined date “1949”. On the facing front free endpaper recto is written “Ex Libris” above a previous owner name. These are the only marks within the book apart from the author’s signature. The dust jacket is substantially complete with an unclipped lower front flap and only a fractional hint of loss confined to the spine head. The jacket shows minor soiling, mild spine toning, a faint circular stain to the lower rear panel, and a smaller circular stain to the lower right joint and adjacent lower left front panel. The dust jacket is fitted with a clear, removable, archival cover. The publisher’s signed, limited issue slipcase is entirely complete and intact, with little wear and both fragile paper labels present and complete, the spine label mildly toned. It might seem odd for a publisher to risk the trouble and expense of a signed, limited issue of a first edition for the spiritual musings of a Trappist monk. Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was anything but ordinary. Merton lost both parents by his mid-teens, entered Cambridge on a scholarship, left after fathering a child he never met, found Catholicism at Columbia University, was rejected by the Franciscans “(was the illegitimate child a cause…?)” and “decided to enter the monastery of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (known familiarly as the Trappists) near Bardstown, Kentucky, having made a Holy Week retreat there in the spring of 1941.” There Merton became "one of the most influential American Catholic writers of the twentieth century.” Encouraged to write, Merton did, first publishing poetry collections in 1944 and 1946. 1949’s Seeds of Contemplation followed on the remarkable success of The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), the story of Merton’s conversion, which became a bestseller and remains “widely regarded as a classic of spiritual autobiography.” In his Author’s Note to Seeds of Contemplation, Merton wrote “This is the kind of book that writes itself almost automatically in a monastery… There is too much passion and too much physical violence for men to want to reflect much on the interior life and its meaning. Yet…the interior life and contemplation are the things we most of all need… that is why I think a volume of more or less disconnected thoughts and ideas and aphorisms about the interior life needs no particular apology or excuse, even though this type of book may have become unfamiliar.” The work was manifestly important to Merton; he would revise it several times and publish New Seeds of Contemplation in 1961. Ref #: 007939 CHURCHILL BOOK COLLECTOR We are Churchill Book Collector, a professional bookseller specializing in books and other published works by and about the great twentieth century statesman and acclaimed writer, Sir Winston Churchill. We offer both a singular inventory and approachable expertise. The integrity of our inventory is backed by our membership in the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). 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Price: 5500 USD

Location: San Diego, California

End Time: 2024-10-26T04:01:13.000Z

Shipping Cost: 20 USD