Out of Battle, The Poetry of the Great War (Signed copy)

Signed by Jon Silkin to Myfanwy Thomas, Edward Thomas's youngest daughter

Author

Jon Silkin

Publisher

Ark, London, 1987

Out of Battle, The Poetry of the Great War (Signed copy)

Printing Details

First edition of this reissue. Paperback. 19.5 × 12.5cm, xxi + 369pp.

This copy has been signed by Jon Silkin to Myfanwy Thomas, Edward Thomas's youngest daughter. Also loosely enclosed is a typed letter signed by Jon Silkin to Myfanwy Thomas asking for the copyright of Edward Thomas's poems for this new edition of Out of Battle. Myfanwy Thomas (1911–2005) was six years old when her father was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917. She was the first President of the Edward Thomas Fellowship when if formed in 1980.

The poetry of the Great War is among the most powerful ever written in the English language. Unique for its immediacy and searing honesty, it has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of and response to war and the suffering it creates. Widely acclaimed as an indispensable guide to the Great War poets and their work, Out of Battle explores in depth the variety of responses from Rupert Brooke, Edmund Blunden, Ford Madox Ford, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Issac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas to the events they witnessed. Other poets discussed are Hardy, Kipling, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Ivor Gurney, Herbert Read, Richard Aldington and David Jones.

Condition

This copy is in good condition. There is light wear to the covers and the pages edges are tanned with some foxing, and with a little foxing to the margins but it remains in strong readable condition, and with a nice association. The letter is heavily tanned to the top half but remains readable.