# Is "A Boy's Will" by Robert Frost a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Boy's Will by Robert Frost (David Nutt, 1913) is identified by: Frost's first book, published in London by David Nutt in April 1913. The London David Nutt edition of 1913 is the true first edition worldwide; the U.S.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Frost's first book, published in London by David Nutt in April 1913
- About 1,000 sets of sheets were bound and sold over roughly three decades (Nutt failed after the First World War), in four variant bindings known to Frost collectors as A-D: (A) the publisher's original bronzed-brown pebble-grain cloth, gilt-lettered on the upper board, bound by the Leighton-Straker Bookbinding Co. — the genuine first issue, no more than about 350 copies and perhaps as few as 284
- (B) cream vellum paper-covered boards stamped in red
- (C) cream linen-grain paper wrappers stamped in black with an eight-petalled flower device
- (D) as C but with a four-petalled flower device
- Only Binding A is the true first issue; the exact sequence of B-D is not firmly fixed
- Publisher imprint reads David Nutt

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Frost |
| Publisher | David Nutt |
| Year | 1913 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Frost's first book, published in London by David Nutt in April 1913 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Frost's first book, published in London by David Nutt in April 1913. About 1,000 sets of sheets were bound and sold over roughly three decades (Nutt failed after the First World War), in four variant bindings known to Frost collectors as A-D: (A) the publisher's original bronzed-brown pebble-grain cloth, gilt-lettered on the upper board, bound by the Leighton-Straker Bookbinding Co. — the genuine first issue, no more than about 350 copies and perhaps as few as 284; (B) cream vellum paper-covered boards stamped in red; (C) cream linen-grain paper wrappers stamped in black with an eight-petalled flower device; (D) as C but with a four-petalled flower device. Only Binding A is the true first issue; the exact sequence of B-D is not firmly fixed. The printed dedication reads 'TO E. M. F.' (Elinor Miriam Frost). Crane A2; Clymer & Green, pp. 20-21.

## Is this the true first?
The London David Nutt edition of 1913 is the true first edition worldwide; the U.S. Henry Holt edition followed in 1915. Only the bronzed-brown pebble-cloth Binding A is the genuine first issue — the other three binding states are later issues of the same 1913 sheets.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club. Distinguished from the 1915 Holt American edition by the London Nutt imprint and, for the first issue, the bronzed pebble cloth of Binding A. A quick tell: the 1915 Holt title page describes Frost as 'AUTHOR OF NORTH OF BOSTON' — impossible on the genuine 1913 London first, since North of Boston did not appear until 1914. Later Holt and anthology printings carry U.S. imprints absent from the 1913 London first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Boy's Will* by Robert Frost a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-boys-will
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.