Short Stories

Pawlet, VT: Banyan Press, 1954. First Edition - Limited. Soft cover. Very Good. Significant association copy between poet James Merrill and close friend, filmmaker and artist Maya Deren. Limited edition, copy 181/210. Thin 8vo, marbled wrappers, printed label. Slightly darkened about edges, small chip upper right corner front cover and separating at folded spine for about the top inch. Inscribed by Merrill on the ffe: "To Maya with love Jimmy 1955'. Maya Deren (1917 - 1961) was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and important part of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer. She was a close friend of poet James Merrill and appears as a chief spirit, along with WH Auden, in Merrill's long narrative poem, The Changing Light at Sandover (1976-1980), which incorporates Merrill's experiences with Ouija board with his partner David Jackson. Signed or inscribed copies of Merrill's earlier works like Short Stories are not that common, but those with associations like his with Deren quite scarce indeed. (Inventory #: 013671)