Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 275

Price Realized: $ 5,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(CUBA.) Martí, José. Verso sencillos. [3]-78 pages. 12mo, modern gilt morocco; lacking title page, related clippings on front flyleaf, early inked stamps removed from pages [5], [7], 26, 27, 76, 78, half-title quite toned, otherwise minor foxing and wear; card signed and inscribed by Martí mounted on page [6], 1939 gift inscription on verso of half-title, modern bookplate on front pastedown. [New York: Louis Weiss, 1891]

Additional Details

First edition of the final and most important book by the Cuban poet and revolutionary José Martí (1853-1895). The title translates into "Simple Verses." and it contains 46 short poems written while Martí was convalescing in New York in 1890. Several of the poems in this volume have been adapted into "Guantanamera," the unofficial Cuban national anthem.
The inscription on the attached card reads "Al acero y el fuego, a Nicolas Dominguez Cowan, José Martí," dated 1893. The recipient was a leading agent of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in Mexico for many years. Palau 153270 (only later editions listed). 4 copies in OCLC, and none traced at auction--signed or unsigned.