New Rare Books: Everson and Others

The William Everson "wish list" that we published in the February issue of the Newsletter proved fruitful beyond our expectations. Associates trustee Judith McCabe donated a copy of Kenneth Rexroth's Eastward the Armies, a book printed by Everson, and Georgetown professor Victor Ferkiss presented us with the copy of Everson's Triptych for the Living which he and his wife had bought when the volume was first published. Mrs. Ferkiss's friendship with Everson is further documented by an extraordinary letter from the poet recounting his experience in combining poetry with the seclusion of monastic life. As if this were not enough, however, when a copy of the list fell into the hands of a California book dealer, we were offered (and promptly purchased) three more of our Everson desiderata. Would that all wish lists were so productive!

Of special note, too, are recent gifts from Patricia England, from Provost J. Donald Freeze, S.J., and from printmaker John DePol. From Mrs. England the library received a copy of August Heckscher's fine and monumental recent edition of The Ship of Fools, and Father Freeze donated the 1649 Elzevir edition of Vitruvius' De architectura, a volume he had been given by the Marquesa Margaret Strong de Cuevas de Larrain, whose Villa le Balze is now the headquarters for Georgetown in Fiesole. Mr. DePol's gift came totally unexpectedly. Through sources outside Georgetown he had learned of our purchase last fall of a large collection of his work, and his gift, comprising 33 prints, posters, and broadsides, was intended to supplement that collection with some of his more recent work.