Southeast Missouri State University Press

Back to Catalog

About a little girl: A William Carlos Williams Poem and Its Legacy

Michael Lund and Robert W. Hamblin

Publication: 2008
Pages: 72

Dr. Michael Lund and his brother Carl donated the original poem “About a little girl” by William Carlos Williams to Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University. As part of the celebration of such a unique acquisition, the University Press produced a small artbook that includes the poem, a facsimile of the original artifact, photos, and essays by families of both William Carlos Williams and Marian Macy Lund. The essays include an introduction by Dr. Robert Hamblin that charts the voyage of the poem into Kent Library’s safekeeping, an essay by Michael Lund tracing the place and importance of literature in his family, a short explication of the poem, and afterwords by Suzy Williams Sinclaire and Daphne Williams Fox about their illustrious family member.

The 72-page book is perfect-bound, Smythe-sewn adhesive, in Garamond and Garamond Pro fonts with rising initials in Edwardian Script, on 60# acid-free paper. The cover is Lexotone Shoecalf vinyl in the style of a doctor’s vintage black bag, with a laminated photo of the famous poet-physician set in a debossed frame. The gold-foil stamping retains Williams’s lower-cased version of the poem’s title. The cover and inside photos of Williams, as well as permission to print the poem, were generously given by Peggy Fox of New Directions Publishing Corporation, agent to the heirs of William Carlos Williams.