HUGHES, Ted; Leonard BASKIN ( illustrator ). Cave Birds: An Alchemical Cave Drama.

HUGHES, Ted; Leonard BASKIN ( illustrator ). Cave Birds: An Alchemical Cave Drama.HUGHES, Ted; Leonard BASKIN (illustrator). Cave Birds: An Alchemical Cave Drama. London: Faber and Faber. 1978. Oblong 8vo. Publishers black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, illustrated dust jacket with printed price of 6. 25 to front flap; pp. 60, [4], with full page black and white illustrations by Baskin throughout; some light spotting to jacket, a little wear to rear board; near fine; authorial inscription For Maggie greetings Ted Hughes 19th

HUGHES, Ted; Leonard BASKIN (illustrator). Cave Birds: An Alchemical Cave Drama. London: Faber and Faber. 1978.

Oblong 8vo. Publisher’s black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, illustrated dust-jacket with printed price of £6.25 to front flap; pp. 60, [4], with full-page black-and-white illustrations by Baskin throughout; some light spotting to jacket, a little wear to rear board; near fine; authorial inscription ‘For Maggie / greetings / Ted Hughes / 19th November 84’ in black ink to front free endpaper.

First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author, with twenty-nine illustrations of birds by American sculptor and draughtsman Leonard Baskin (1922–2000).

Cave Birds was first performed in 1975 at the Ilkley Literature Festival, three years before its first appearance in print. The long poem, along with Baskin's strikingly evocative drawings, combine to make a gripping drama of ritual, transformation, and avian myth. Baskin had previously provided the iconic dust-jacket design for Hughes' Crow (1970). Cave Birds would be their most sustained and intense collaboration.

SKU: 2124305