Greek Horizons. Volume 1, No. 1.

Signed by John Waller. The first and only appearance of Greek Horizons, a literary journal founded in Athens in 1946 by British author and war correspondent Derek Patmore (1908-1972).

This copy is signed three times by one of the contributors, British war poet Sir John Waller (1917-1995), a cofounder of the Salamander Society of poets and writers in Cairo during World War II. Inscribed by him on the editorial page, 'John Waller's signed copy / JSW'. He has also signed both his poems on pp.24-25.

Patmore intended Greek Horizons to be a literary quarterly, highlighting Greek culture through the lens of prominent British authors and artists living in Greece at the end of World War II (while the Greek civil war was still raging), but the 1000 copies printed in 1946 marked its only appearance. What makes this volume exceptional is the notability of the contributors, among whom were classicist Rex Warner, who contributed an unpublished translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, novelist Lawrence Durrell, and author and environmentalist Kaity Argyropoulou. Durrell, perhaps the best known of the contributors, wrote The Telephone, a short story that was an early version of Patmos, which appeared in Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953). Durrell was a significant influence on Patmore and helped inspire the idea for Greek Horizons (Genova, p.92).

Patmore's plans for a second issue came to a premature halt when he left Athens abruptly in the autumn of 1946 - never to return. As such, copies of this important publication are incredibly rare.

An important English publication in Greece, one of only 1000 copies, and featuring a superb group of contributors.

One number (all published), one of 1000 copies, signed by John Waller; 4to (24.5 x 16.8 cm); partly unopened, illustrations by Osbert Lancaster, holograph corrections to the Editorial, some toning to leaves, else unmarked internally; original wrappers printed in red and black, slight creasing to corners and extremities, mild soiling, some loss to spine at foot, else very good.

Genova, A.M. 2022. "The Making of Greek Horizons (1946): Derek Coventry Patmore and the History of His Literary Quarterly", in Leger, John M. (ed.), Princeton University Chronicle. Hollis: Puritan Capital Press: 73-101.