THE PAGAN: A MAGAZINE FOR EUDAEMONISTS. Vol. 2, No. 12 - Vol. 3, No. 1 (April-May, 1918).
New York: Pagan Publishing Co., 1918. Illustrated tan wrappers, very good. Crane is listed as Associate Editor (with Eugene O'Neill), and contributes two poems "Carrier-letter" and "Postscript", neither reprinted during his life, an essay "The Case Against Nietzsche", and, signed with initials, a recap of recent events titled “Last Chords,” and also an editorial "Note" on a poem entitled “America” by Grace Bostwick. [Schwartz & Schweik B 19, B 85, B 126, B 134 and B 128]. Item #32777
A RARE EARLY EXAMPLE OF HART CRANE’S EDITORIAL EFFORTS. Some pages show notations in ink, which appear to be additions or corrections to some material, or indicate suggested printing changes; These notations are probably by Hart Crane; Crane expert Vivian Pemberton (see infra.) believes they are. The details of these notations are as follows: (1) on the title page there are a check mark by the name of contributor Elizabeth F. Jaeger; and two price-changes (from $1.00 to 1.50, and from Ten Cents a Copy to Fifteen Cents a Copy; (2) on pp.12, there are two suggested printing changes, each consisting of short dashes followed by “(space);” (3) on p. 13, the numbers “2” and “1” are placed before the first two lines at top of page, probably indicating that the order of the lines should be switched, and the phrase “Turn the page;” (4) on p. 26, the word “a” is crossed out in the first line of a poem; and (5) on p. 32, quotation marks are added to two lines of a poem, followed by this note in parentheses: “3rd line should indent the same as 2nd line[;] 6th line [4 ditto marks repeating the words “should indent the same”] as 5th line[.]) According to John Unterecker in “Voyager: A life of Hart Crane” (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) at p. 107: “.... (Crane) began again to drop in regularly on the offices of The Little Review and The Pagan. So — 5.10 —much of his time, indeed, was spent in Joseph Kling’s establishment that Kling suggested Crane might as well make himself officially useful. Accordingly, the April-May issue of The Pagan listed on its masthead ‘Associate Editor---Hart Crane’ and was crammed with his material---two poems, a drama review, and a commentary on the war-inspired popular reaction against Nietzsche.” Unterecker was referring to the April-May 1918 issue of The Pagan. This April-May 1917 issue of The Pagan was among Hart Crane’s papers and was handed down through Crane family members to Vivian Pemberton, Emeritus Professor of English at Kent State University and a recognized authority on Hart Crane.
Price: $3,500.00