# Is "Chamber Music" by James Joyce a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Chamber Music by James Joyce (Elkin Mathews, 1907) is identified by: Published by Elkin Mathews, London, May 1907, in an edition of 509 copies (Slocum & Cahoon A3) — Joyce's first book. Elkin Mathews, London, 1907 is the true and only first edition; there is no competing UK/US issue in 1907, and the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by Elkin Mathews, London, May 1907, in an edition of 509 copies (Slocum & Cahoon A3) — Joyce's first book
- Bound in green cloth, lettered in gilt on the upper cover and spine, the title within a pictorial border
- Mathews did not bind the whole edition at once, so distinct states exist within the single printing
- First state: thick laid endpapers of the larger size, the text of the poem in signature C correctly centred, and the lighter shade of the green cloth
- Later state: thin woven transparent endpapers with signature C poorly centred
- Dealers estimate that only some fifty to a hundred copies of the first state were bound and distributed, and the three points are used together — a copy is not first-state on the cloth shade alone
- Publisher imprint reads Elkin Mathews

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Joyce |
| Publisher | Elkin Mathews |
| Year | 1907 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by Elkin Mathews, London, May 1907, in an edition of 509 copies (Slocum & Cahoon A3) — Joyce's first book |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Published by Elkin Mathews, London, May 1907, in an edition of 509 copies (Slocum & Cahoon A3) — Joyce's first book. Bound in green cloth, lettered in gilt on the upper cover and spine, the title within a pictorial border. Mathews did not bind the whole edition at once, so distinct states exist within the single printing. First state: thick laid endpapers of the larger size, the text of the poem in signature C correctly centred, and the lighter shade of the green cloth. Later state: thin woven transparent endpapers with signature C poorly centred. Dealers estimate that only some fifty to a hundred copies of the first state were bound and distributed, and the three points are used together — a copy is not first-state on the cloth shade alone. One source dates the edition to December 1907 rather than May; the May 1907 date is followed here as it is the one carried by the Joyce scholarly sources, and the December reference is most likely a later binding-up.

## Is this the true first?
Elkin Mathews, London, 1907 is the true and only first edition; there is no competing UK/US issue in 1907, and the census claim is confirmed. On the American side there is a documented trap the census misses: the first American appearance is the unauthorized Cornhill Company edition (Boston, June 1918, green cloth boards with the title gilt-stamped on the upper cover, roughly 1,000 copies), which precedes B. W. Huebsch's authorized first American edition (New York, 30 September 1918; Slocum & Cahoon A6) by about three months. The Huebsch carries a publisher's note stating that it is the only American edition authorized by Joyce — so 'first American edition' and 'first authorized American edition' are two different books. Chamber Music is Joyce's first book proper; only the broadside 'The Holy Office' and the lost 'Et Tu, Healy' precede it in print.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented. The standing traps are the two 1918 American editions — the unauthorized Cornhill (Boston) and the authorized Huebsch (New York) — both routinely catalogued as 'first edition' when they are at most 'first American' or 'first thus'. Confirm the 1907 Elkin Mathews title page first, then test the state points (thick laid endpapers, signature C centring, lighter cloth) before describing a copy as first-state.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Chamber Music* by James Joyce a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/chamber-music
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.