A Further Range — Robert Frost, Holt 1936

📖 A Further Range by Robert Frost (1936, Henry Holt and Company) — Frost’s sixth poetry collection, and the one that earned him his third Pulitzer Prize. This copy is a first edition in crimson cloth with the original dust jacket, priced at $37.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Robert Frost (1874–1963)
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, New York
• Year: 1936 (first edition, copyright 1936)
• Format: Hardcover in dust jacket
• Pages: ~102 | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Condition: VG/VG- — full report below

THE STORY

Published in 1936, A Further Range marked a turning point in Frost’s career. Where his earlier volumes celebrated pastoral New England, this collection reached outward — into politics, philosophy, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Frost himself acknowledged the shift: “It has got a good deal more of the times in it than anything I ever wrote before.” The poems address industrialization, organized labor, the New Deal, and the decline of the family farm, all rendered in Frost’s signature conversational style.

The collection includes some of Frost’s most anthologized and analyzed poems: “Design,” a devastating 14-line meditation on randomness and evil; “Two Tramps in Mud Time,” a meditation on work and vocation; “A Roadside Stand,” a protest against rural poverty; and “Provide, Provide,” a wry reckoning with aging and obscurity.

THIS EDITION

This is the first edition, published by Henry Holt and Company at One Park Avenue, New York. The title page bears the designation “BOOK SIX,” placing it in Frost’s sequence of major collections. Henry Holt did not include an explicit “First Edition” statement on the copyright page — this was standard practice for the publisher at the time. The copyright page reads simply: “Copyright, 1936, by Robert Frost / Printed in the United States of America.” The volume is organized into six sections: Taken Doubly (14 poems), Taken Singly (20 poems), Ten Mills (11 numbered poems), The Outlands (3 poems), Build Soil (the title poem plus “To a Thinker”), and Afterthought (“A Missive Missile”).

Poems in this collection were previously published in The Saturday Review of Literature, The Yale Review, Poetry, Scribner’s Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Mercury, and other periodicals.

COVER ART & DESIGN

The binding is crimson cloth with gilt lettering inside a decorative stamped rectangular frame on the front cover. The spine carries gilt title and author lettering. The cloth shows minor rubbing to edges and corners with light softening at spine ends. The original dust jacket is present and unclipped, preserved in a mylar protector. The jacket features a deep maroon/burgundy background with cream-colored typography and a geometric border. The back of the jacket displays a catalog of Frost’s other works published by Henry Holt, with original prices ($1.75–$5.00) and illustrator credits (Thomas W. Nason woodcuts, A. Du Chene frontispieces, J.J. Lankes woodcuts, James Chapin deluxe edition). The jacket shows chipping along top and bottom edges and flap fold corners, with losses at spine ends and age-toning along spine and rear panel. The text block features gilded page edges and clean, crisp cream pages with uniform light age-toning. The binding is square and tight with firm hinges.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Pulitzer Prize: Won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry — Frost’s third Pulitzer (after New Hampshire in 1924 and Collected Poems in 1931), making him one of only a handful of poets to win three times.
• Contains “Design”: Widely considered one of the greatest American sonnets — a meditation on a white spider, a white moth, and a dead moth arranged on a white flower, questioning whether the universe is governed by design or chance.
• Political Frost: This is the collection where Frost broke out of the “New England regional poet” mold. Contemporary reviewers noticed the political edge — one prominent paper called him a “counter-revolutionary.”
• The dedication: “To E. F. for what it may mean to her that beyond the White Mountains were the Green; beyond both were the Rockies, the Sierras, and, in thought, the Andes and the Himalayas — range beyond range even into the realm of government and religion.” Elinor Frost died in 1938, two years after this publication.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? First edition, copyright 1936, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York. No explicit “First Edition” statement on copyright page (standard for Henry Holt at this period). Original dust jacket present, unclipped.

What condition is it in? VG/VG- — book is Very Good with minor rubbing and gilt still readable; dust jacket is Good+ to Very Good- with chipping, edge wear, and age-toning, preserved in mylar. Full report below.

Is it signed? No, this copy is not inscribed or signed.

FOR COLLECTORS

A first edition of one of the essential Frost collections, with the original dust jacket intact. The jacket’s back panel — listing all of Frost’s Henry Holt titles with original prices and illustrator credits — is itself a piece of publishing history. At $37, this is an accessible entry point into first-edition Frost. Signed copies of this title typically command $2,500–$3,500.

Condition Report

Overall Grade: Book: Very Good (VG) / Jacket: Good+ (G+)/Very Good- (VG-)

Cover & Spine: Crimson cloth boards with gilt title inside a decorative stamped frame on the front cover and gilt spine lettering. Gilt remains readable. Minor rubbing to edges and corners, with light softening at spine ends.

Dust Jacket: Original jacket preserved in mylar protector. Shows chipping along top and bottom edges and flap fold corners, with losses at the spine ends, and age-toning along spine and rear panel. Unclipped.

Text Block & Pages: Pages are clean and crisp with uniform light age-toning to margins. Text block edges are lightly age-toned.

Binding: Square and tight. Hinges are firm and fully intact.

See accompanying images for full condition details.

Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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