One Hundred and One Famous Poems with a Prose Supplement — 1929 Revised Edition — C. H. Young Anderson SC Provenance — 1954 Kelly Morris Circus “Circus Daddy” Ticket Laid In

An especially interesting provenance and ephemera copy, originating from the library of C. H. Young of Anderson, South Carolina, whose typed ownership label, reading “C. H. Young / Anderson / S.C.”, remains affixed to the decorative marbled front pastedown. Of particular interest is an original Kelly Morris Combined Circus “Circus Daddy” child-admission sponsorship ticket dated September 14, 1954, found laid into and preserved with the volume. The original ticket will remain with the book and is included in the sale. The vintage ticket is numbered 1943 and prominently reads “KELLY MORRIS COMBINED CIRCUS — ADMIT ONE CHILD.” Its unusual charitable purpose is explained at the top of the ticket: purchase of the ticket would make the purchaser a “Circus Daddy” to a child who otherwise would not be able to see the circus. The ticket advertises trained horses, dogs and ponies, acrobats, clowns, and Kelly Morris trained elephants. It is machine-stamped SEP 14 1954 and states an estimated price of 50¢, with an unused ticket to be considered a donation. The ticket is a particularly evocative example of mid-20th-century American circus and charitable sponsorship ephemera, documenting a program through which an adult could purchase admission for a child who otherwise might not have been able to attend. The presence of the dated circus ticket within a book bearing the C. H. Young, Anderson, South Carolina ownership label creates an intriguing historical association and provides tangible evidence of the volume's life beyond its printed text. The ticket appears to have been deliberately retained within the book for many decades. The volume itself is an attractive period anthology bringing together many of the best-known poems of the English-language tradition. Numerous selections are accompanied by small photographic or engraved portraits of their authors. Notable selections include John McCrae's “In Flanders Fields,” Alan Seeger's “I Have a Rendezvous with Death,” Alfred Tennyson's “Charge of the Light Brigade,” Rudyard Kipling's “Recessional,” James Whitcomb Riley's “Knee-Deep in June,” Ralph Waldo Emerson's “The Rhodora,” and Ella Wheeler Wilcox's “Solitude.” The prose supplement extends the volume beyond poetry and includes historical, patriotic, moral, and literary material, including the Magna Charta and Patrick Henry's “The War Inevitable, March, 1775.” An especially interesting period passage offers parents a series of questions to consider when selecting books for children, providing a revealing glimpse into early-20th-century attitudes toward children's literature, morality, authority, and education. The book is bound in an attractive dark flexible hardcover with an elaborate embossed decorative front-board design, incorporating a stylized floral/Arts-and-Crafts or Art-Nouveau-influenced motif surrounding the title. Decorative marbled endpapers further enhance the period appearance. CONDITION Good. Exterior shows expected age and use, including rubbing, surface wear, discoloration and wear to edges, corners and extremities. The elaborate embossed front-board decoration remains attractive and well defined, with title lettering still clearly visible. Decorative marbled endpapers remain present. The front pastedown retains the original typed C. H. Young / Anderson / S.C. ownership label. The September 14, 1954 Kelly Morris Combined Circus ticket shows light age wear, minor creasing/edge wear and faint pencil or handling marks, but remains complete, highly legible and visually appealing. A compelling copy combining an attractive 1929 illustrated poetry anthology, identifiable Anderson, South Carolina private-library provenance, and an original piece of 1954 American circus and charitable ephemera. The Kelly Morris Combined Circus ticket pictured was found laid into this copy and WILL REMAIN WITH THE BOOK.…