Wilfred Owen

A first edition, first impression of the poems of Wilfred Owens.

• Wilfred Owen (English).
• Edited by Siegfried Sassoon.
• London: Chatto & Windus, 1920. 
• Portrait frontispiece.
• Quarto.
• Part of an edition of 1000 copies.
• Publisher’s red cloth, paper title label to spine, with the dust jacket.

Only 1000 copies of this monumental collection were printed, with a second impression coming out the following year. It is probably worth noting that jackets of the second impression are very similar to those on the first. The key therefore is to note the condition of the spine of the book itself. Crucially to be correct it must be entirely unfaded as in this example. Owen is widely regarded as the best of all the Great War poets. He famously died in the very last days of the war having not published a book. Sassoon knew how good these poems were, and ensured they saw publication.