Signed copy. Hughes's love of animals was one of the catalysts in his decision to become a poet. According to London Times contributor Thomas Nye, Hughes once confessed "that he began writing poems in adolescence, when it dawned upon him that his earlier passion for hunting animals in his native Yorkshire ended either in the possession of a dead animal, or at best a trapped one. He wanted to capture not just live animals, but the aliveness of animals in their natural state: their wildness, their quiddity, the fox-ness of the fox and the crow-ness of the crow." However, Hughes's interest in animals was generally less naturalistic than symbolic' (Poetry Foundation).

This collection of poems very much reflects the above and Hughes' day job as a Devon farmer, although some are more naturalistic than previously.

Number 131 of a limited edition of 175, signed by the author; folio (30.4 x 24.2 cm); title in red and black, illustrations by Leonard Baskin, numbered prospectus loosely inserted; publisher's pictorial limp vellum, gilt, a little yellowed (as usual), top edge gilt, others uncut, original slip-case, small dent to one edge, otherwise very good, a near-fine copy.

Sagar & Tabor A57a.1