A Form of Words.

a limited edition of the author's first poetry collection

This charming first edition was the Scottish poet, George MacBeth's, first poetry collection, published the year before he graduated from Oxford University. MacBeth was a member of The Group, an informal circle of poets founded by undergraduates at Cambridge who met in London from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, often seen as successors to The Movement of the 50s.

The Fantasy Press ran from 1951 to 1962, publishing two of MacBeth's poetry collections as well as collections, anthologies, and pamphlets of work created by undergraduate and graduate poets at Oxford (including early work by Philip Larkin, Elizabeth Jennings, and Geoffrey Hill).

The ownership inscription on the front endpaper likely indicates this edition was owned by the English playwright, screenwiter, and novelist, Julian Mitchell FRSL (1935-present), who began studying at Oxford in 1955 and collected poetry by Larkin and others.

First edition, number 74 of 150 limited edition copies; 8vo (23 x 18 cm); printed in red and black, device on title-page and dedication page; publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt (lightly rubbed on spine and extremities); 25, [iii]pp.