Sale 2514 - The Pride Sale, June 20, 2019

43 c FERNANDO PESSOA (1888-1935) English Poems I-II [and] English Poems III. 2 volumes (complete). 8vo, original printed wrappers, sewn, few scattered spots, mild rubbing to spines; occasional browning to fore-edges; preserved in chemise and 1 / 4 morocco slipcase. Lisbon: Olisipo, 1921. [4,000/6,000] first edition , an excellent survival . The first volume contains a revised edition of Antinous, a poem with a queer theme (the relationship between Antinous and the Emperor Hadrian) first published in 1918, followed by Inscriptions. The second volume contains Epithalamium. The copyright page reads: “An early and very imperfect draft of Antinous was published in 1918. The present one is meant to annul and supersede that, from which it is essentially different.” Pessoa’s asexuality has been widely assumed, even though the queer theme in the opening poem is quite explicit. rare , with only one other copy traced at auction .