Lee, a Dramatic Poem
Price: $85.00
Hard Cover. New York: Macmillan Company, 1926. First Limited Edition. Near Fine.
First limited edition. One of 250 numbered copies signed by Masters, this being number 66. Publisher's black cloth, stamped in gilt with facsimile signature to front board; in its publisher's slipcase, with gilt label affixed to front panel. About fine book, with some rubbing to foot of spine, bright and clean boards, and light spotting to endpapers; very good slipcase, with some soiling to titles label, some wear and flaking to corners and mouth of slipcase, and a scratch to rear panel. Overall, a handsome copy. Opening with a conversation between two symbolic characters - Ormund and Arimanius - on the lawn of the Washington Monument on April 17, 1961, this verse play is a meditation on the Civil War and the legacy of Robert E. Lee. Edgar Lee Masters followed up Lee with a few other "dramatic poems" about historical figures and events, including Jack Kelso: A Dramatic Poem (1928), Godbey: A Dramatic Poem (1931), and Richmond: A Dramatic Poem (1934). Masters is best known for Spoon River Anthology (1915), a collection of more than 200 free-verse poems framed as confessional speeches from the dead inhabitants of a rural Illinois graveyard. Item #ELM001
