Gaudete Signed by Ted Hughes first edition 1977

HUGHES, Ted – Gaudete (signed)
 
London: Faber & Faber (1977)
 
8vo; black boards with large gilt and red lettering to the spine, with the superb Leonard Baskin dust wrapper; pp 200; overall a very good copy, there is a tear to the inside left side of the front panel, along with one or two light marks to the wrapper.
 
First edition and rare as it is inscribed by Ted Hughes to a previous owner to the front free end paper in the year of publication.
 
Initially meant as a scenario for a film, Hughes reworked and built the long narrative poem to the extent that it was published as a work in its own right. It is about a clergyman abducted by spirits, who create a doppelganger to take his place, left to interpret what its like to be human and a man of the cloth. A rare book to find signed.