R. S. THOMAS

Deciduous Language

Laubbaum Sprache

"To get R. S. Thomas into circulation in Germany ... is a real service to poetry." (Oxford Magazine)

"... a handsome tribute to the poet... the translations are impressive and reveal Perryman's concern not simply with accuracy but also with the nuances of poetic utterance." (Planet)

A bilingual volume of 30 poems by the Welsh poet R. S. Thomas (1913-2000). Laubbaum Sprache, the second selection of his work to appear in book form in German, contains work from the last six decades, including three uncollected poems (and none that were in BABEL's earlier collection, Das helle Feld).

The text was set in Monotype Bodoni and printed by letterpress at Martino Mardersteig's Stamperia Valdonega on off-white deckle-edged Magnani mould-made acid-free rag paper; the front matter and the initials were set by hand, the title page printed in brown and black; 24.5 x 16.6 cm, 88 pp., sewn.

150 numbered copies have been bound by hand and signed by the poet, ten (I-X) in brown genuine oasis Nigerian goatskin, gold blocked, in slipcase, and 140 (1-140) in half black buckram over brown boards; backstrip gilt lettered, front cover blocked in black. The 850 unnumbered copies are softbound, with a light grey Fabriano wrap-around jacket printed in brown and black.

R. S. Thomas,   LAUBBAUM SPRACHE (bilingual)    soft-bound    ISBN 978-3-931798-12-3    £ 18

LAUBBAUM SPRACHE special: half buckram, numbered (1-140), signed    £ 168

cf.   The Bright Field / Das helle Feld,   Frieze,   Decidious Language / Laubbaum Sprache,   Charity's Scarecrow / Die Vogelscheuche Nächstenliebe,   With Claws of Fire / Mit Fängen aus Feuer,   Das Kreuz,   The Cross,   The Sky-Rhyming Child / Das himmelreimende Kind,   In Delicate Nooses / In zierlichen Schlingen,   Stone Twittering / Steinzwitschern   and   Dove-Marks on Stone