Letter in Wartime and Other Poems

First edition, first printing. [1940]. 43pp, [1]p. In black cloth-covered boards, with stamped gilt lettering on spine. 12mo. Cloth a little shelf worn, gently rubbed and rounded at corner and spine tips. Ex library with usual, somewhat messy and grubby, marking on front and rear endpapers. Library stamp and perforation on title page, else internally neat and clean. British poet Mallalieu (1914-1988), whose poetry is characterised by a visionary modernism, served in the British armed forces during the second world war, gaining a strong reputation as a war poet. Julian Symons described him as 'one of the best-known of the younger British poets before the [Second World] War. This, together with On the Berlin Lakes, are considered his finest collections of poetry. Now a hard to find title.