J.L. Gili's selection of Lorca's poems in Spanish, with his own unassuming prose versions as guides to the originals, first appeared in 1960. With its excellent introduction and selection it remains a perfect introductory guide to the great poet. The book is ideal for newcomers to Lorca who know, or are prepared to grapple with, a little Spanish. It influenced a generation of readers and poets, including Ted Hughes who first encountered Lorca through this book. Spain's most celebrated modern poet, Federico García Lorca was born in 1898 near Granada. Poet, dramatist, musician and artist, he was the author of The Gypsy Ballad Book' (1928) and Poet in New York' (1940).

After his return from New York and Cuba to Republican Spain in 1930, he devoted himself to the theatre, writing three tragedies including Blood Wedding' (1933). An outspoken supporter of the Republic, he was assassinated at the height of his fame by Nationalist partisans in Granada in 1936, on the eve of the Spanish Civil War.