SLESSOR, Kenneth - Thief of the Moon - 1924

Sydney: J.T. Kirtley, 1924.

Small folio (275×190 mm). [12], 1–51 [i.e. 54], [5] pages. Original quarter white calf and blue cloth boards with gilt title on spine, top edge gilt. Lacking the three mounted wood engravings by Norman Lindsay. Spine lightly rubbed and dusted. Traces of glue on some pages.

First edition of Slessor's first published work, signed by the author. This is copy number 4 of an edition limited to 130. At least half the edition was reportedly destroyed by a fire in the warehouse where the bound copies were stored. Of the remaining, only between about 30 and 50 complete copies were ever distributed with the three engravings by Norman Lindsay tipped into their respective volumes. The present copy lacks the three engravings.

Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971) was a leading Australian poet and journalist whose modernist voice helped shape 20th-century Australian literature. Slessor combined formal skill with vivid imagery and musical language to explore time, memory, and urban life. He worked as a newspaper reporter and war correspondent, experiences that sharpened his observational clarity and narrative range. Slessor also translated and edited, and he played a key role in promoting Australian poetry nationally.