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“A BOOK OF JUVENILIA WHICH I PREFER TO FORGET”: WONDERFULLY INSCRIBED PRESENTATION FIRST EDITION OF GRAHAM GREENE’S VERY SCARCE FIRST BOOK, BABBLING APRIL, ONE OF ONLY 300 COPIES

GREENE, Graham. Babbling April. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1925. Octavo, original grey paper-covered boards printed in blue, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase. 

Very rare first edition of Graham Greene’s first book, one of only 300 copies printed, presentation copy wonderfully inscribed and signed by Greene on the front endpaper: “A book of juvenilia which I prefer to forget. Graham Greene.”

Graham Greene’s scarce first book, with a presentation inscription reflecting the author’s lifetime attitude towards his early poetic efforts. “Greene spent much of his time and energy on poetry, which he contributed to the student magazine Oxford Outlook and to the Weekly Westminster Gazette. His verse also appeared in three successive volumes of the prestigious annual Oxford Poetry. In 1925, his last year at university, Basil Blackwell published his short collection Babbling April. The book attracted so many bad notices, however, that a disappointed Greene abruptly surrendered his ambition to be a poet” (ODNB). “The poor reception given his first book in spring 1925 was a serious disappointment. Although most poets expect modest sales, the unimpressive figures for Greene’s thin volume of poetry were hardly worth recording. A first printing of 500 copies was planned, but this was eventually cut back to 300, and the majority of these went unsold in the first year. This dismal news could be hidden from friends and family, but the bad reviews could not easily be dismissed… Greene tried to forget this mistake as quickly as possible, and critics were gracious enough to ignore it after the writer went on to produce great books with impressive titles… But a few critics could not help noticing that the tough novelist had a strange poetic streak. The Balliol poet was not really dead. He had simply found a good way to hide behind the mask of prose” (Michael Shelden, Graham Greene: The Enemy Within, 77-79). Miller 6.

Slight offsetting to endpapers, minor wear and slight sunning to jacket. A lovely, about-fine copy of this Greene rarity, exceptionally desirable inscribed.