BORGES, Jorge Luis. Holograph Manuscript Entitled "Wally Zenner, Antigua lumbre." [1949]. One leaf of heavy notepaper, recto only. In black ink, dated at the top, and signed by Borges. With a single excision and substitution. The essay appeared as the preface to Zenner's collection of poems entitled Antigua Lumbre. When praising a lovely milady of his acquaintance, Borges didn't stint. Here, after a discursus on the phenomenology of the poetic life, he describes the highest summit the poetic voice can attain, from which vantage he or she "speaks with the voice of all humanity, as in the greatest poetry of Shakespeare." Though Borges locates Zenner somewhat below the Swan of Avon in his poetic empyrean, he bears witness that her verse "Morir de ti, espléndida y desnuda" ("To die of you, resplendent and naked") springs from this universal source as well: "it evokes the experience of every lover who has ever been, is now, or shall be." [For a longer consideration of this relationship, see the description of the manuscript of Borges's preface to her collection Encuentro en el allá seguro above.] Offered along with three elegant original line-drawings-one pencil drawing, two in ink, with editorial specifications-for the cover of the volume, by León Benarós, poet and artist, about whose poetry Pablo Neruda said, "He raised the romance form to its true magnitude, achieving a level that not even García Lorca could surpass," as well as a copy of the first edition of the book (Buenos Aires, 1947).

• Category: Extraordinary Books, Manuscripts & Art
• Language: Deutsch
• Inventory number: 7852LB

Our Price: USD 37,500.00