PHAEDRA

First UK edition, first printing. Original green cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt sharp, the contents clean throughout. Light offsetting and a few light spots to free endpapers. In the dustwrapper, lightly toned to the spine, with a touch of wear to spine tips. Not price-clipped (15s net to the front flap). A nice copy.

Lowell's translation of Jean Racine's 1677 play, 'Phèdre' first appeared in the US in 1961 with, in the same volume, Jacques Barzun's translation of Beaumarchais' 'Marriage of Figaro'. Parts of Lowell's text were, in 1975, used by Benjamin Britten for his late cantata of the same title.