Leonora Speyer, born in Washington DC, was a concert violinist with Boston Symphony Orchestra and European orchestras before moving back to the United States. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1927 for Fiddler's Farewell, which was especially noted for its wit and understanding of the feminine character. She later taught poetry at Columbia University in New York City. "There is no teaching a student to acquire talent," she said; "no amount of study may contrive a gift. That is God's affair. But the actual process of poetry—writing, the color and harmony of words, can be, surely must be learned. The instrument must be mastered like any other instrument."

American Poets: an Anthology of Contemporary Verse is unusual in the number of women poets included, with Anna Hempstead Branch, Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marianne Moore, Rose O'Neill, Lola Ridge, Sara Teasdale, and Elinor Wylie being represented.

Octavo, 132 pages. In Good condition. Bound in publisher's red leather with marbled boards. Moderate wear and rubbing overall. Front free end paper has been excised, paperclip formerly on page 7, causing a small open tear to page 7 and rust marks to pages 6-11, paperclip formerly to page 93, rust marks to pages 92-99, pages 21-33, 93, 119 loose. Written in pencil on the front pastedown: "Leonora Speyer's copy, from her library March. 18, 1956. With her annotations. Pages used as well in her poetry courses at Columbia Univ." Publication information in pencil to second free end paper. Leonora Speyer's pencil annotations to pages 11-12, 15, 21-25, 30-45, 69, 72, 80-1, 83, 85-89, 93, 101, 108, 110-114, 117, 119-121, 124. Page 87 with pasted 'From Dorothy Thompson's THE WOMAN POET in the Ladies Home Journal" followed by 5 lines. Includes one page poem by Lola Ridge loose within, with notes by Speyer. CX Consignment. Shelved in Case 0.