This is a three-volume limited edition set titled “Poetica Erotica”, edited by T. R. Smith and published by Boni and Liveright in 1921. The set is numbered on the copyright page as well.  

Size:  9 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.

The title page reads “Poetica Erotica, A Collection of Rare and Curious Amatory Verse” printed in red and black letters, and at the bottom of the title page it says published in New York for subscribers only by Boni and Liveright in 1921, and it is not just a limited edition, but a first edition because there is just one date on the title and copyright page and no other printings. 

The volumes are half bound, with white spines and light green boards, five raised bands and gilt lettering on the spine, blank endpapers with the bookplate of Margaret Morgan Connell on front paste-downs, then the half title, the title page, and the copyright page shows the limitation number is #778 of 1550 sets, of which only 1500 sets are for sale.  

The first volume was dedicated to Henry L Mencken and George Jean Nathan after the copyright page and has a preface (vii - ix), a list of Authors and Titles (xi - xix) and 324 pages  of text. Volume Two has a copyright date of 1921, a list of Authors and Titles    (v - xv), and 328 pages of text, and Volumes Three has “Supplementary Poems “ on the title page, the copyright page is dated 1922, it is dedicated to “Carl Van Vechten, Gnostic”, then a two-page Note (vii - viii), a list of  Authors and Titles (ix - xiii) and 279 pages of text, and all the edges are deckled.  

Henry L. Mencken, better known as H L Mencken, was an American journalist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English who commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, and prominent politicians.  

George Jean Nathan was an American drama critic and magazine editor who worked closely with Mencken, bringing the literary magazine The Smart Set to prominence and co-founding and editing The American Mercury and The American Spectator. The 1950 film All About Eve was based on Nathan, and he had a romantic relationship with the great silent film star Lillian Gish beginning in the late 1920’s and lasting almost a decade. Gish repeatedly refused his proposals of marriage. 

Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein; he helped to bring her unpublished writings into print. He gained fame as a writer and his controversial novel Nigger Heaven was published in 1926, and his biographer suggested Van Vechten believed that negro culture was the essence of America. He was credited for the surge in white interest in Harlem nightlife and culture and was involved in helping writers such as Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen find publishers for their early works, and his photographic portraits from the 1930’s to the 60’s  included images of Harlem Renaissance figures such as Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday,   Zora Neale Hurston, and Cab Calloway and artists such as Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and  Frida Kahlo.  

The books measure 9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches wide and are in good shape The spines have darkened, there’s rubbing on the bands, a light hinge crack in the first volume and the rest have decent bindings, with soiling and light wear on the edges of the boards and some wear at the tips, and the pages inside are very clean.  

#6266