57, [ii] p., 1 leaf of plates : ill.
Bound in brown calf, and enclosed in a slipcase. The figure of a bull is stamped onto the front cover

Ted Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire and brought up in South Yorkshire. He began writing poetry when at school and continued at Cambridge. His first wife, Sylvia Plath, encouraged Hughes to submit his manuscript The Hawk in the Rain for a competition and it was published in 1957. He continued writing poetry in which he explored the natural world and mythical themes. He also wrote many works for children.

In 1984 he was appointed Poet Laureate and during this time he formed a close friendship with Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to whom he presented a number of manuscripts and volumes of his poems. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1998, shortly before he died.

This collection of poems, Moortown Elegies, was first published in a limited edition by the private press The Rainbow Press. The poems it contains were taken straight from a journal kept by Hughes during the time, between 1972 and 1976, in which he owned and worked a farm called Moortown, keeping sheep and Devon cattle. The poems were written in what Hughes calls 'rough verse' as notes. When, a few years after this time, Hughes went back through the journal, he decided not to work them in to polished poems, but to publish them in their original form as half poems, half journal entries. He wrote 'I found them too interesting a record --- to me --- for me to think of changing them.'

Moortown Elegies was first published as a small run of high quality books bound in either morocco, like this copy, or in limp vellum. Although the poems were later issued more widely under the title Moortown, this original printing follows the high-production value ethos of the early twentieth-century private presses. The book is bound by the famous binders Sangorski and Sutcliffe in brown morocco leather with gold tooling, including an image of a bull on the front board. The end papers are a japanese printed paper, and the text is printed on Barcham Green hand-made paper. The book also contains an illustration by Leonard Baskin.

This copy is the first of six presentation copies, and was presented by the author to Queen Elizabeth II in 1988. Hughes inscribed the title page:

'To / Her Majesty / Queen Elizabeth II / from / your most humble and obedient subject / and / Poet Laureate / Ted Hughes / 29 March 1988'