one of only 5 copies - inscribed by the author to the editor

One of 5 copies from the tirage de tête, inscribed by the author in Greek on the half-title: 'To E. Ch. Kasdaglis / with love / Elytis'.

The recipient was the Greek scholar, author and book editor Emmanuel Ch. Kasdaglis, the editor of this work (as stated in the colophon). Kasdaglis, above all, was the soul of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET) and its director from its foundation in 1966 until his death in 1998. In addition to the Foundation's publications, he organised artistic and literary exhibitions, while at the same time he was privately involved in the literary and typographical editing of a number of Greek texts (Collected Works of Kazantzakis, Prevelakis, Karyotakis, works by Solomos, Seferis, Elytis, Theotokas, Andronikos), and also wrote his own poems and essays. He further served as president of the Society of Authors and Secretary General of the Society of Studies of the Moraitis School.

Influences of surrealism meet traditional Greek literature in the poetry of Elytis. Most of his poems celebrate light, the sun, his native country's historic ruins, the blue sea, and the rocky terrain of Greece. Elytis' experiences during World War II introduced a darker element and tone into his poetic oeuvre. Six and One Remorses for the Sky remains one of his most significant collections of poetry, and is his first collection since Sun the First, together with Variations on a Sunbeam (1943).

First edition, copy Γ΄ [3] of 5 copies from the tirage de tête on coloured Ingres paper (numbered Α΄- Ε΄ [1-5 in Greek numerals]), inscribed by the author, from a total edition of 550; 8vo (24.5 x 16.3 cm); lithographed frontispiece by Yiannis Moralis, internally fine; original pale grey pictorial wrappers by Yiannis Moralis printed in black and purple, uncut and unopened, minor creasing to extremities, else fine.

NB: Modern Greek polytonic orthography transliterated according to the Library of Congress Standard.