Flight Without Fear; Poems
Stamford, Connecticut: The Overbrook Press, 1939. Limited Edition, one of one hundred and sixty-five copies. Hardcover, in a slip case. Format is approximately 5 inches by 7.75 inches in a slightly larger slip case. [10], 65, [4] pages. Winthrop Bushnell Palmer, an educator and author was the widow of Carleton Humphreys Palmer, a former president and chairman of E. R. Squibb & Sons. Mrs. Palmer, who in 1974 became the first woman to serve as chairwoman of the board of trustees of Long Island University, was an assistant professor of literature and fine arts at the university's Brookville campus. She and her husband established the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at the C. W. Post campus of Long Island University. Mrs. Palmer wrote poetry and plays. Her poem, Kalamazoo, one of the longest in this volume, is perhaps the finest homage to this city in verse that this appreciator of fine poetry has experienced. Particularly striking were the lines My traffic's thrust aside/By gallants undenied. In the verse entitled xviij there is another compelling section which reads A city, a stronghold,/Must rejoice in its strength/And the firmness of its asphalt,/and the motorized muscles of its movement. Again from the perspective of this appreciator, one can see, sense, smell and feel the urban vibrancy thus captured in these four lines. The titles of some of the verses are: Adjustment, The Housatonic at Bridgeport, Christmas, Fog and Fire, Music, Realism, Calvacade, Nassau, Canyon Wall, and No Surrender. The Overbrook Press was founded in 1934 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Frank Altschul, an investment banker and civic leader with a lifelong interest in book arts and printing. Altschul initially pursued printing as a hobby, experimenting with a small press in his New York apartment. In 1934, he was approached by designer Margaret B. Evans, who had been working for Ashlar Press. Ashlar was closing, and Evans hoped Altschul would continue its work. Altschul set up the press in converted outbuildings on his Stamford farm and hired Evans as designer and compositor and John MacNamara as pressman. The Overbrook Press went on to print an eclectic variety of books and pamphlets, as well as ephemera such as awards and certificates. Evens placed great emphasis on technical expertise and craftsmanship, and even smaller pieces - political pamphlets such as Towards a More Creative Policy and short books on chess problems - were handled with surprising care. Altschul set up the press in converted outbuildings on his Stamford farm and hired Evans as designer and compositor and John MacNamara as pressman. Overbrook volumes were also known for fine illustrations. In the 1930s, the Overbrook Press published an edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's travelogue An Inland Voyage , which featured illustrations by French artist Jean Hugo. Hugo was commissioned to follow Stevenson's path through Belgium and France and produce gouaches of scenes along the route. The press worked with many other artists, including Valenti Angelo, Anna Simons, and Bruce Rogers, but is most closely associated with T. M. Cleland, who illustrated a number of Overbrook volumes. His most ambitious project was an edition of Prevost's Manon Lescaut , for which he created elaborate silk-screened illustrations. The volume, which was published in 1958 after six years of work, is considered one of the highest quality private press books of the time. The Overbrook Press operated for nearly thirty years, closing its doors in 1969. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Poems, Verse, Adjustment, The Housatonic at Bridgeport, Christmas, Kalamazoo, Fog and Fire, Music, Realism, Calvacade, Nassau, Canyon Wall, No Surrender
[Book #84288]
Price: $450.00