First edition

[Across facing pages, in black:] LOVE POEMS OF ANCIENT EGYPT | A New Directions Book Translated by Ezra Pound and Noel Stock | [reproduction of an Egyptian painting in black on a lavender background. Norfolk, Conn., James Laughlin]

3 leaves, 33 pp. col. illus. 17.6 x 12 cm. Stiff plain white paper wrappers. White dust-jacket printed in black and lavender on page [i] and in black on page [iv].

Published 28 November 1962 at $1.50; 5049 copies printed. On verso of title-leaf: ... Manufactured in the United States of America New Directions Books are published by James Laughlin at Norfolk, Connecticut. New York Office: 333 Sixth Avenue (14). “These versions are based on literal renderings of the hieroglyphic texts into Italian by Boris de Rachewiltz, which first appeared in the volume Liriche Amorose degli Antichi Egiziani, published by Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan, in 1957. Most of the original Egyptian texts have survived only in incomplete form, but, for the purpose of modern adaptation, it has seemed desirable to present each poem as complete. The sources for the poetry are: the Turin (Maspero) Papyrus, the Harris 500 and Chester Beatty I & II Papyri in the British Museum, and the Ostrakon No. 25218 pottery in the Cairo Museum—all dating between 1567 and 1085 B.C....” (“Note,” verso of title-leaf) “Ezra Pound’s incomparable gifts as a translator delight us anew in Conversations in Courtship ... “THNESS having prevented Mr. Pound from continuing the work, the remaining poems ... have been translated by the poet Noel Stock.” (Dust-jacker) Contents: Conversations in Courtship [translated by Ezra Pound]—Love Jyrics—More Love Lyrics—Pleasant Songs of the Sweetheart Who Meets You in the Fields—Pleasant Songs—Garden Songs—Sweet Phrases—Haste [all translated by Noel Stock]

Notes: A second printing, identified only on the back flap of the wrapper, was issued in December 1963 (5200 copies). A hardbound edition with title Come Swiftly to Your Love: Love Poems of Ancient Egypt, illustrated by Tom di Grazia, was published in Kansas City, Mo., by Hallmark Editions in 1971 at $2.50.