The Virgin of Waikiki; a Torrid Tragedy of the Tropics, with New Illustrations By A,B, Butler, Jr.
New York; (1933): Henry M. Snyder. Small Octavo. Item #025389
47 unnumbered pages of the woman who vowed to remain a virgin until a woman friend placed a book in her hand called 'Vermillion Sin' (a bibliographic ghost, by the way). The book aroused what had been dormant and she at age 40 finds a drunken sailor. The poet writes that he cannot describe what took place that night but when her body was found on the beach the next morning she had passed away but on her face was a beatific smile. The "Wrecks": An Anthology of Ribald Verse notes this as one that brings a smile to the face of those with thoughts of lust though not in some of the cruder poems in its contents. This edition was issued in 1933 for the first time with the delightful illustrations of A.B. Butler, Jr. As an interesting sidelight, the book was given by Ivan to a woman who preferred relationships in the 1930's with her male lovers rather than marriage (thus the inscription from her friend Ivan) Bound in maroon cloth, yellow pastedown label lettered in black Near fine in a very good unclipped pictorial dust jacket with light wear to spine ends.
Price: $50.00