Strange Waters

STERLING, George.

Strange Waters.

FIRST EDITION, limited to 150 copies. [San Francisco]: privately printed, [1926].

This copy carries several corrections to the text in what appears to be George Sterling's own hand. 12mo. [iv], 10 pp. Text printed in brown ink on toned laid paper; heavy tan paper wrappers with a decorative lyre-and-roses device, three-hole stab-sewn with a brown silk tie. A near fine copy, with light foxing, slight darkening to the covers, and small owner initials to the upper rear cover. BAL 18827; Mattila A29.

A privately printed pamphlet from the last year of George Sterling's life, in a copy he appears to have gone over and corrected himself — a habit well attested in his privately printed and presentation copies. Strange Waters was privately printed in San Francisco in an edition of just 150 copies and advertised in the August 1926 issue of the Overland Monthly (Johnson, p. 38). Small private printings of this kind are the scarcest part of Sterling's bibliography — his major collections circulated widely, but a slim silk-tied pamphlet like this survives in far fewer hands. A copy bearing the poet's own manuscript corrections, from the final months of his life, is uncommon and of real documentary interest.

SKU TO-2026-093