ROBERT FROST AND JOHN BARTLETT: THE RECORD OF A FRIENDSHIP

New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963. Hardcover. Very Good/Good To Good Plus. In 1907, a young English teacher, Robert Frost, began a friendship with two of his students, John Bartlett and Margaret Abbott (later Bartlett), that endured nearly half a century, in spite of distance and personal hardships. With the Bartletts' deaths in the 1940s, their daughter, Margaret, was left some sixty letters written by Frost over the years to her parents. Those letters, with Margaret's reminiscences, are the basis of this book, the record of a friendship. About 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches, 224 pages, illustrated with b & w photos and including an index in brown cloth-covered boards with white and blue lettering on spine. Light brown-grey dustjacket shows small b & w photos of Frost and John Bartlett on front panel with red and black lettering below photos and on spine. Back panel contains three excerpts from the book. Top edge of text is lightly soiled and a few marginal notes or lines underlined may be found, o/w boards and text are complete and clean with no significant damage such as tearing, creasing or bumped corners. The dj shows light soiling and minor wear along edges, corners and spine ends with a single, 1 1/2-half-inch tear at top of spine near the fold with the back panel. A sound, collectable copy. It's noteworthy that Frost gave permission to publish the letters after his death in the dedication to his 1962 book, "In The Clearing:" " Letters in prose to/ Louis Untermeyer, Sidney Cox, and John Bartlett/for them to dispose of as they please,.