ABANDONED. Collected Works of Poetry, Green

[Gsarah1]

I bought this book about 7 years ago at a library sale in Vermont and I think I lost it in Massachusetts. I believe it was pretty old, but how old, I'm not sure. It was a collected works book of poetry. It definitely had some Tennyson and maybe some Wordsworth and Shelly. The book's most strikingly recognizable quality was that is was broken into sections. The ones I remember were death and love. There may have been one on war as well as several others. It was a hardback with no sleeve and a rough hunter green cover and some sort of gold embossing on the front. It also had a tan colored spine with "POETRY" in capital letters and some other writing. It was pretty small. Maybe 5 or 6 inches tall and 3 or 4 inches wide. Less than a half an inch thick.

I loved this book. It helped get me through my father's death and it got lost with a box of other stuff when I graduated from college. I lost some other books in that box, all of which I have repurchased, but since I can't remember it's name, I haven't been able to find it. The funny part is, I did about 15 different oil paintings of this book in a still life, but I never painted the spine in enough detail to be able to read anything other than the big letters of "POETRY."

[Cheryl has hopes her life will calm down soonish]

Wow. I'd love to be able to identify this for you, but I imagine there are probably lots of books like this. I'll browse my library's shelves, but that's a long shot.

Do you recall if there were any decorations on the pages?

Do bump this thread every month or two.

[Feliks]

There's a website which lets one identify books by their cover. H'mmm..trying to recall what one that is...

[Michelle]

I have a number of collections like this, but it can be so hard to find the right one. Here are a few of the titles I know of - I'm not sure which ones actually have the breakdown you've mentioned (love, death, etc.) ... but maybe one will ring a bell. Or perhaps one will have enough similarity to your lost book as to be useful for you. I'm not sure about the original publication dates on most of these, since they're available in reprints:

Best Loved Poems of the American People
100 Best-Loved Poems
Penguins Poems For Life
Immortal Poems of the English Language

I'll check my collection when I get home and see if I can locate any others that look promising. Hope these help.

[Lorna]

Silver Pennies?

[Gsarah1]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I may have a lead. I'll let you know.

[Elizabeth]

Could this be 'Other Mens' Flowers' by A.P. Wavell?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Other Men's Flowers: An Anthology of Poetry is the click for Elizabeth's suggestion

[Cheryl has hopes her life will calm down soonish]

Gsarah1, did you ever find your book? Or are you still looking?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response from OP in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.