The Lamplighter

First UK edition, first impression.  90pp.  Grey cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering to spine. Red endpapers.  8vo.  Cloth a little pushed in at spine ends, slight dustiness to upper text block edge, else volume is neat, clean ,bright and tight.  In its original glossy, illustrated dust jacket, a little rubbed on corners and spine ends, a little shelf worn and a tad discoloured in a thin strip along the upper edge.  

A collection of poetry, translated into English from the original Maltese, from Anton Buttigieg, a former lawyer and police officer, and strong proponent of the Maltese language who was elected to the Maltese House of Representatives in 1955 and served as President of the Republic of Malta from 1976 to 1981.  Buttigieg married twice, his first wife dying a decade or so later and his second wife being killed in a car accident three years after their marriage.  Much of the poetry in this volume reflects the poet and President’s tragic life losses.