N.p. Hester Verkruissen, 1992

8vo, unpaginated [8pp.]. Stitched binding in cream card covers, glassine wrapper printed in black to front panel. Leading and lower edges uncut. The lightest of wear to (oversized) lower edge, small and very faint area of yellowing to lower left of glassine front panel. A near fine copy.

First separate edition of Larkin's poem.

'Making your own books is sometimes more fun than cataloguing someone else's.' (Hester Verkruissen)

Hester Verkruissen [1950-2012] was a Dutch printer who worked at the Library of the University of Groningen from 1973 -- the year she published her first works, issued by the Grafisch Centrum Gronigen where she trained as a printer. Most of her books (like this one) bear her own name as publisher; some carry more capricious imprints such as The Trembling Hand Press, or Slippery Glasses.

Above Verkruissen's monogram device at the rear of this booklet, the colophon reads: 'Days was chosen by Hester Verkruissen from The Collected Poems of Philip Larkin. She typeset and printed it on a weekday in December 1992 on the pretext of heading for the next 365! and sent it to her friends, acquaintances & relations by way of encouragement at the turn of the year.' She did a wonderful job.

Hand-printed, often in editions of fewer than 100 copies, Verkruissen's work is scarce. The limitation of this item, produced in a day for private distribution, is unstated. We can find no copy in auction records, and only two library holdings (University of Groningen; Buffalo).

A near fine copy of a scarce and exquisite Larkin item.