The Bridge; A Poem
New York: Horace Liveright, 1930. First American edition. 8vo, 82pp; blue cloth. Tiny tear or fingernail puncture to cloth spine; spine stamping faded slightly, gilt on front panel nice and bright; without dust jacket. Item #207677
An extraordinary presentation copy, inscribed on the front flyleaf just three days after the official publication date and one day before the Library of Congress recorded its accession: "To Walker Evans, - 'clean animosity, - clear name' from Hart Crane / New York, - Brooklyn, in fact, March 25th '30." Above the inscription is Evans's ownership signature. Three photographs by Evans illustrated the first edition of The Bridge, published in Paris earlier in 1930 and one was retained as the frontispiece to this edition. Evans and Crane met in 1928 while walking beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Evans had recently acquired his first camera and, like Crane, was enthralled with the great structure. Although he initially planned to use a painting by Joseph Stella, the artist most closely identified with bridge at the time, Crane eventually settled on Evans to illustrate the poem. As the book neared completion he wrote to Caresse Crosby that he thought Evans "the most living, vital photographer of any whose work I know. More and more I rejoice that decided on his pictures rather than Stella's." The Black Sun Press edition of the poem was the first time any of Evans's photos had appeared in a book. The relationship between Evans and Crane, like many in the poet's circle, grew strained as Evans tired of Crane's excesses. He described Crane to their mutual friend Hans Skolle as "beyond redemption" before he helped him depart on his final journey to Mexico: "after spending most of the last few days drinking in his hotel room Hart was scarcely capable of organizing himself for embarkation and so the photographer took it upon himself to get the voyager and his luggage on board the Orizaba. Evans never saw Hart again. . ." (Clive Fisher, Hart Crane: A Life, p. 464).
Price: $60,000.00