[POUND, Ezra (1885-1972), editor] - Guido CAVALCANTI (1255-1300). Rime ... Edizione Rappezzata fra le Rovine, Genova, "Edizioni Marsano S. A.", 1931, 4to, original red wrappers. ONE OF 500 COPIES, POSSIBLY A PRESENTATION COPY, [?]inscribed by Ezra Pound.

[POUND, Ezra (1885-1972), editor] - Guido CAVALCANTI (1255-1300).  Rime ... Edizione Rappezzata fra le Rovine. Genova: "Edizioni Marsano S. A. Anno X", 1931. 4to (290 x 225mm). 40 facsimile plates of the original manuscript poems. Original red stiff wrappers lettered in black with Pound's initials "EP" on the back cover, uncut and partly unopened (some light fading, inconspicuous split running down the centre of the spine). Provenance: From the Collection of Clive Wilmer (1945-2025; please see lot 418 for further biographical information). A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, ONE OF APPROXIMATELY 500 COPIES, POSSIBLY AN EDITOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed, in blue ink, on the front free endpaper, "[?]Lady [?]Vernay, In case her son hasn't a copy, [?]E. [?]Pound, Xmas, '59." The inscription - especially the signature - is indistinct, and our attribution is highly speculative: please see the catalogue illustration. In addition, the book has a complicated publishing history. Originally, "The Aquila Press" commissioned Ezra Pound to edit and annotate this edition of the 13th-century Florentine poet's Guido Calvacanti's works, a poet Pound idolised, emulated and translated. However, the press went out of business after only some 56 pages were printed and Pound completed and released the book at his own expense, hence the work's subtitle "Edizione Rappezzata fra le Rovine" (roughly translated as "Edition patched up from the ruins"). The work opens with Pound's essay "Ad Lectorem E. P." in Italian (p.7-9) and closes, after the poetry and the facsimile plates of the originals, with a supplementary essay by Pound in English with the pagination starting again from [1]-56), although clearly this section forms an integral part of the book. Pound's name only ever appears in the book in the form of his initials, most notably on the rear wrapper. Gallup A Bibliography of Ezra Pound (1963) B27: "about 500 copies printed." RARE.