Limited 177/275 signed

237. WOLFE, Humbert. REQUIEM. 1927. Edition limited to 275 numbered copies, signed by the Author. Dw chipped & torn but with all print intact. Predates Trade Edition. £20.00

Humbert Wolfe CB CBE (January 5, 1885, Milan, Italy – January 5, 1940), was an Italian-born English poet, man of letters and civil servant, from a Jewish family background, his father being a German Jew (Martin Wolff) and his mother an Italian Jew (Consuela, nee Terraccini).

Born Umberto Wolff in Milan, he obtained British nationality in 1891 and studied at Wadham College, Oxford. He entered the civil service in 1908 as a senior clerk with the Board of Trade. During the First World War he was controller of labour regulation in the Ministry of Munitions and in 1938 was appointed deputy Secretary to the Ministry of Labour. As a writer he published over 40 books of poetry including Lampoons (1925) and Requiem (1927), critical writings including Notes on English Verse Satire (1929) and biographical studies. He is still remembered for his epigram: You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! The British journalist. But seeing what the man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.

He was one of the most popular authors of the 1920s.