Poet X.J. Kennedy's Copy
Requiem for a Nun.
New York: Random House, [1951].
Price: $650.00
About the item
First Edition, first state with grey stained top edge and misspelling of Chocktaw on p. 21; in first state jacket with E. McKnight Kauffer's name written incorrectly. 286 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Poet X.J. Kennedy's Copy. In half paper-covered boards with cloth spine; dust-jacket with some chipping around spine and edges, with a closed tear and creasing to back panel at top; old tape residue; annotated throughout. Petersen A32.1a; Brodsky 302.
Item #338340
Signed Joe Kennedy on ffep and annotated throughout, with a synopsis of the story and his reflections ("Big contrast between the please-the-groundlings sweetness of F's later work and the hell-with-em' harshness of his earlier."), and notes to the rear flap of the dust-jacket. There are three leaves of his notes laid in. X. J. (Joseph Charles) Kennedy changed his name when his first poems started to appear to keep his persona distinguishable from Joseph P. Kennedy, scion of the political dynasty. He writes award-winning poetry for adults and children, as well as textbooks. With Dana Gioia he edited Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (Longmans), and included Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" This was likely his copy at Columbia where he received an MA in 1951.
