The Daffodil Murderer. Being the Chantry Prize Poem
KAIN, pseud.], [Saul, [Siegfried, SASSOON, ]
[With a Preface by William Butler [T.W.H. Crosland].]
'BRILLIANT BEYOND BELIEF': 1000 COPIES WERE PRINTED
Published: John Richmond Ltd [T.W.H. Crosland], 1913
Stock code: 46382
Price: £364.00
8vo., First Edition, fore-edges very lightly foxed as often; strongly bound in tan buckram, upper board with printed paper label, ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS PRESERVED, a very good, bright, clean copy.
1000 copies were published on 10 February 1913. Sassoon's delightful parody of Masefield's early work was sparked by a chance re-reading of the latter's 'Everlasting Mercy'. Sassoon's publisher, TWH Crosland helped in the correction of the proofs, and 'Sassoon awoke as the anonymous author of a sixpenny pamphlet in cheerful orange-coloured wrappers' ('The Weald of Youth', p.124 ff). The mock-serious preface was written by Crosland and issued under his trading name of John Richmond. Sassoon sent a copy to Edmund Gosse, who handed it on to Eddie Marsh, the result being a long letter from Marsh criticizing Sassoon's poetry, to the latter's great advantage (see Keynes pp.32-33). SCARCE, ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONDITION. Keynes, A10.