1936 First Edition - Not So Deep as a Well. Collected Poems of Dorothy Parker
Author: Dorothy Parker. Decorated by Valenti Angelo.
Title: Not So Deep as a Well. Collected Poems.
Publisher: New York, The Viking Press, 1936. Published December 1, 1936. Printed in the United States of America by the Stratford Press, Inc. First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 8.5 x 5.5 inches.
Pages: xii, 210 pages.
Binding: Near fine original publisher’s salmon-red cloth binding, gilt-lettered within a gilt-ruled panel on the upper board and spine (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown). Housed in a good original pictorial dust jacket printed in red, black, and teal, lettered “Collected Poems,” showing moderate edge wear, chipping to head of spine and upper panel edges, and some creasing, but still presenting well in a protective removable mylar cover. Not price-clipped ($2.50 price intact).
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, a few leaves display a faint, darker vertical production line embedded in the paper, as shown in the photographs; this is a printing characteristic rather than later staining. - as shown).
Illustrations: Title page and decorative typographic ornaments designed and decorated by Valenti Angelo, lending the volume its distinctive Art Deco-inspired aesthetic.
Estimate: (USD 200–350).
The book: Not So Deep as a Well gathers Dorothy Parker’s celebrated early volumes—Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, and Death and Taxes—along with additional poems not previously collected, forming the definitive 1936 compilation of her sharp, urbane verse. Balancing wit, melancholy, and social satire, the poems range from epigrammatic barbs to quietly devastating lyrics such as “Autumn Valentine” and “Threnody.” Issued with Valenti Angelo’s elegant decorative typography and a striking three-colour dust jacket, the book embodies the polished literary sophistication of 1930s New York publishing while preserving Parker’s unmistakable voice of ironic tenderness and emotional precision.
The author: Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) was one of the most distinctive American literary voices of the twentieth century, renowned for her acerbic wit, lyrical concision, and contributions to The New Yorker and the Algonquin Round Table circle. Her poetry combines biting humour with underlying pathos, capturing the contradictions of modern urban life, love, and disillusionment.
The decorator: Valenti Angelo (1897–1982) was an Italian-born American illustrator, typographer, and designer known for his refined decorative work in fine press and trade editions. His restrained yet elegant ornamental designs in this volume complement Parker’s poetry with a modern classicism characteristic of the 1930s book arts tradition.