A beautiful, mournful poem for Christmas: “Let her be given scarlet flowers, a goblet of wine,/ ruddy, a good fat side of goose, spiced sauce/ that brings a flush to pale cheeks, on her altar [...] For she is lonely/ and cold amid her marble, having borne/ without love.”
One of 18 poems issued in the 1931 Blue Moon Christmas poem series. According to John Gawsworth, the 18 poems were sold together and an edition of 100 unsigned, unnumbered copies was published simultaneously. The limited edition poems were issued in an envelope, which featured a printed list of the 17 (?) poems in the series, with the caption "Blue Moon Christmas cards 1931".
Dubbed ‘the Welsh Chekhov’, Rhys Davies (1901-1978; OBE) was a prolific and prize-winning author, who chronicled working class life, especially of industrial Wales, and especially women’s lives, including, in his later career, lesbians. He is known predominantly for his short stories.
Charles Lahr (1885-1971), political activist and publisher, took over the Progressive Bookshop at 68 Red Lion Square, Holborn, in 1921. This became a centre for political radicals and new authors, including Davies. After earlier publishing efforts Lahr started the Blue Moon Booklets in 1930, followed, a year later, by the Blue Moon Press. See also our copy of Bryher et al’s Cinema Survey (Blue Moon Press, 1931 [ref. 2460]).