File:EzraPound&IsabelPound1898.jpg

Photograph of the American poet Ezra Pound (1885–1972) in May 1898 with his mother, Isabel Weston Pound (1860–1948). The image shows the letters C.M.A. on the neck of his uniform, Cheltenham Military Academy, Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, which Pound attended from 1897 to 1900.

A copy of the photograph (what appears to be a copy from the negative) is held by the Harry Ransom Center (see below). According to the center, on the back of the image it says, in ink, "May 3, 1898". In pencil, in different handwriting, it says below the date: "EP & Mother". In the bottom left corner, also in pencil, it says: "MSpann". "EP & Mother" and "MSpann" appear to be in the same handwriting. MSpann would be Marcella Spann Booth, a friend of Pound's from the 1950s (see below).

A. David Moody wrote in Ezra Pound: Poet, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 8:

"There is a studio photograph of Isabel and Ezra, taken possibly in 1897 when Ezra was about to begin high school. He is wearing his new dress uniform for Cheltenham Military Academy, and his hands are formally folded together on his knee. Isabel's hands are likewise formally folded in her lap. She sits upright in a dark silk dress, with a frill of lace at the cuffs, a full lace front and a high choker collar. Both mother and son are looking their formal best for the camera; no current can be detected flowing between them. Isabel's face is round, full-cheeked, good-looking in an inexpressive fashion. Ezra's face is round, chubby-cheeked, without expression. Both have eyes you would look twice at."

Our source was The Seattle Times, May 25, 2008, crediting the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Wood River Valley, Idaho. The item was based on an Associated Press story about Pound's home in Hailey, Idaho, which the Sun Valley Center acquired in 2005 and uses to stage art exhibitions. The center appears to own an original copy of the photograph, which is probably kept in the house.

Publication history

The earliest known publication of the image was on September 29, 1985, when it appeared in an Associated Press story about Pound's house in Hailey. The story and photograph were published that day by several newspapers, including the Victoria Advocate, p. 3, and the Reading Eagle, p. E-18. They did not credit the photograph to anyone.

The image was also published in John Tytell, Ezra Pound: The Solitary Volcano, New York: Anchor Press, 1987, credited to the Idaho Historical Society. This is probably the same copy now in the possession of the Sun Valley Center.

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds what appears to be a second original copy. The Center hosts the image on its website here, describing it here as "Ezra Pound and his mother in 1898. Unidentified photographer. Image courtesy of Harry Ransom Center." The image was part of a collection obtained in 2008 from Marcella Spann Booth, who became a friend of Pound's in the 1950s. See the news release about the acquisition.

May 3, 1898, according to the back of the copy held by the Harry Ransom Center

photographer unknown; copyright holder unknown

Claiming fair use. Author is unknown and the first publication date is not yet confirmed, so determining the copyright status with any certainty, and when it might become free, is not yet possible.