The Passing of The Storm and Other Poems (in decorated binding)
New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1907. First edition. Hardcover. First edition. hardcover in olive green cloth lettered in silver and decorated with an image of a snowy mountain. Foldout frontispiece photograph of the mountain scene on which the cover decoration was based. 136 pp. Illustrated with 12 full page photographic plates of scenes of nature (forests, streams, mountains) each captioned with a verse from one of the poems. A tight, fine example, all lettering bright, The frontispiece panoramic photo has some loss at one of the folds. Alfred Castner King (1874-1941), also known as "The blind poet of Colorado", was an American poet whose work reflected majestic natural landscapes, and experiences of solitude and reflection. At the end of the 19th century, he had already published some of his poems, and was working in a mine in Colorado; in March, 1900, a day after his 26th birthday, there was an explosion in the mine that cost King his sight as well as partial deafness. His poems prior to the accident spoke of mountaintop vistas and the "music of nature" while those afterward were darker, with titles such as "The Miner", an anthem to a dangerous profession, and "The Suicide", a poem of a disabled poet seeking to stand beside non-handicapped society, bidding it to look elsewhere. King spent the later years of his life traveling around the country lecturing, playing the flute, and selling his books of poetry. He died in Colorado August 30, 1941. Fine. Item #E35495
Price: $25.00