This column has for six weeks dealt with the works of American novelists widely considered to be among this nation’s greatest of the 20th -21st century: Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Cormac Mc- Carthy.

Today we switch to poetry and begin a look at our finest poets – beginning with the inimitable Robert Frost.

While a 1950’s student at Emory, we had the pleasure of hearing him read at Agnes Scott College with the added joy of interviewing him on behalf of the “Emory Wheel,” our student newspaper. He made an amusing and revealing statement in the interview saying he never disparaged the creative effort of anyone who tried writing and requested his opinion of their work. “If they don’t understand what they have done,” he said, “why should I rain on their parade?” “I usually just affirm what they’ve done and let them feel good about themselves; they probably wouldn’t understand anyway.”

Frost is remembered by thousands who watched the 1961 JFK inauguration on television as the poet recited “The Gift Outright.” His was the most memorable performance on that snowy day.

He is perhaps best known by the masses for “Mending Wall” and “The Road Not Taken.” In the first poem he wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors;” in the second work he wrote these memorable lines: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the road less traveled by.”

We hold that Frost’s genius is unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries and advise clients to enjoy and invest in his works whenever possible. Unfortunately, and we think unfairly, he never won a Nobel Prize for Literature, but he did garner four Pulitzers: in 1924 for “New Hampshire – A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes” which now sells for more than $1,000 when signed; in 1931 for “Collected Poems” which fetches $2,000 to $3,000 in a signed first edition; in 1937 for “A Further Range,” now selling for $1,000 for a signed first; and in 1943 for “A Witness Tree” - $5,500.

We advise clients who buy for “pleasure and profit,” to first acquire two plays:

“A Masque of Mercy,” and “A Masque of Reason,” either of which is accessible for about $ 125 in signed, first edition. His signature will bring an added value of at least $400 on either work. On his other works, Frost’s signature can add $685 to $1,000 in value. In our judgment a book of poems entitled “In the Clearing” (with introduction by Robert Graves), is an undervalued investment at $125 (first UK edition); the first US edition (one of 1,500 signed) will bring around $450. Our advice: purchase every one of them you can; the signature is rising steadily in value.

Astonishingly the 1894 “Twilight” is known to exist in only two copies. Should they ever surface on the market, their should be at least $100,000 each.

Frost’s first regularly published book, “A Boy’s Will” (1913) ranges in price from $10,000 to $15,000 in bronze, brown pebbled cloth. We advice our clients to try, if possible, to acquire all Frost’s works and enjoy the fortune that gradually ensues.

Additional recommendations – not all inclusive are: “Complete Poems” (1949) – $1,200 to $1,500; “A Considerable Speck” (1939) - $750 to $1,000; “Hard Not to be King” (1951) - $1,000 to $1,300; “The Lone Striker” (1933) – with some used as Christmas card by Frost - $100; “Mountain Interval” (1916) - $2,000 to $2,500; “North of Boston” (London: 1914) - $3,000; “Selected Poems” (1923) - $750 - $1,000.

“Steeple Bush” (1947) - $750; “Three Poems” (1935) $1,000 to $1,300; “To a Young Writer” (1937) - $200 to $400; “A Way Out” (1929) - $500 and “Running Brook” (1928) - $1,000.

At his death on January 29, 1963 Frost was the unofficial Poet Laureate of America. He put his finger on the pulse of universal concerns in writings on the fields and farms of New England and the details of rural life.

President John Kennedy, speaking at Amherst College nine months after Frost’s death said: The death of Robert Frost leaves a vacancy in the American spirit … Impoverishes us all, but he has bequeathed our nation a body of important verse, from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding. Selah.

(The columnist, Dan Maxey, a collector and book dealer for more than a half century, is also a book appraiser and gives frequent speeches on “Collecting for Pleasure and Profit.” Opinions expressed are those of the writer. He and his wife, Lynette, are co-owners of M & M Rare Books and they can be emailed at mandmbks@gmail.com.)