Self-Portrait In a Convex Mirror. Poems by John Ashbery
New York: Viking Press, 1975. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher's blue cloth over olive paper-covered boards, spine stamped in green, original illustrated dust jacket.
"Things can harden meaningfully in the moment of indecision." Signed first edition of towering 20th-century American poet John Ashbery’s most celebrated collection. Published when he was nearing 50, the collection marked an evolution from his fragmented, avant-garde style into a more accessible voice (although Ashbery maintained the verses are as "disjunct" as his previous works, merely concealed under a contemplative surface.) The title poem, an ekphrastic meditation on a 1524 painting by Italian Renaissance artist Parmigianino, is considered one of his most accessible and influential. Other notable poems include "As One Put Drunk into the Packet-Boat" and "Hop o' my Thumb," both of which similarly interrogate the interactions between art, perception, and reality. Self-Portrait In a Convex Mirror made history by winning the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award the year of publication, making it the only book to have received all three awards simultaneously. Dust jacket designed by Jacqueline Schuman; author photo to rear flap by Michael Teague. Signed by Ashbery and dated "May 12 1975" to half-title. Unclipped dust jacket with minor sunning to spine and minor toning to flaps. Near fine. Item #12727
$450.00