The Celtic Twilight. London: A.H. Bullen, 1902. Revised & Enlarged Edition, American Issue. Pp x, 234. Frontispiece portrait by J.B. Yeats (the poet’s father). Blue ribbed cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to spine. Near fine.

First published in 1893, this revised & enlarged edition has several added chapters and a new preface. 2000 copies were printed, of which an unknown number were exported for the American issue, which, appeared in a Macmillan binding with no alteration of the title-leaf imprint. [Wade 36]

The Celtic Twilight gave its name to the epoch of Ireland’s history that saw the beginnings of the Irish Literary Revival, the start of the Irish National Theatre, and all those aspects of Irish life that renewed interest in early Irish history, the great Celtic myths and the supernatural world of myth and folklore. Yeats writes in the introductory: ‘I have, however, been at no pains to separate my own beliefs from those of the peasantry, but rather let my men and women, dhouls and faeries, go their way unoffended or defended by any argument of mine.’