xi, 241 pp, 8vo (9 1/4" H), gray cloth with black lettering on spine and front board, light gray endpapers. Number 4 of the first, limited edition of 75 copies, signed by Cummings. B&w illustrations. "This book consists of a cluster of epigrams, forty-nine essays on various subjects, a poem dispraising dogmata, and several selections from an unfinished play. Taken ensemble, the forty-nine astonish and cheer and enlighten their progenitor. He's astonished that, as nearly as anyone can make out, I wrote them. He's cheered because, while re-reading them, I've encountered a great deal of liveliness and nothing dead. Last but not least; he's enlightened via the realization that, whereas times can merely change, an individual may grow." From the author's Foreword. There is a previous owner's erased pencil signature mark at the top of the free front endpaper (some light thinning to the paper) and a very slight indentation of the signature on the adjacent half-title page; a very small light foxing mark at the top edge of the verso of the frontispiece; light toning to pages; a 5" x 2" very light area of browning (possibly from a newspaper clipping) on page 230 text page and on page 231 blank page; 1/8" tear at bottom of front hinge cloth; light browning to edges of text block, boards and spine; a small light scuff on the fore-edge of the text block; very light edge wear - mostly at corners and at top/bottom of spine.