# Is "In Parenthesis" by David Jones a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of In Parenthesis by David Jones (Faber & Faber, London, 1937) is identified by: True first: Faber & Faber, London, June 1937, the copyright page reading 'First published in June Mcmxxxvii' with no further impression line beneath it. UK is the sole first — Faber & Faber, London, 1937.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: Faber & Faber, London, June 1937, the copyright page reading 'First published in June Mcmxxxvii' with no further impression line beneath it
- One of 1,500 copies, printed by Hague & Gill (Eric Gill's firm)
- Original buff/oatmeal cloth, the spine with a black label bordered and lettered in gilt, top edge stained grey to match the jacket; grey typographic dust jacket printed in red and black, notoriously fragile and usually price-clipped (an unclipped jacket with the price present at the flap is the preferred state)
- Illustrated with a frontispiece and a second lithograph after the author's drawings (facing p
- 226) and a map (facing p
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Faber, London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | David Jones |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber, London |
| Year | 1937 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | True first: Faber & Faber, London, June 1937, the copyright page reading 'First published in June Mcmxxxvii' with no further impression… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first: Faber & Faber, London, June 1937, the copyright page reading 'First published in June Mcmxxxvii' with no further impression line beneath it. One of 1,500 copies, printed by Hague & Gill (Eric Gill's firm). Original buff/oatmeal cloth, the spine with a black label bordered and lettered in gilt, top edge stained grey to match the jacket; grey typographic dust jacket printed in red and black, notoriously fragile and usually price-clipped (an unclipped jacket with the price present at the flap is the preferred state). Illustrated with a frontispiece and a second lithograph after the author's drawings (facing p. 226) and a map (facing p. 193).

## Is this the true first?
UK is the sole first — Faber & Faber, London, 1937. No American edition appeared for twenty-four years; Chilmark Press, New York, 1961 (xv, 224 pp) is the first American edition. Precedence trap to note: T. S. Eliot championed the book inside Faber, but his 'A Note of Introduction' was written for the 1961 reissue and is NOT in the 1937 first. Any copy containing Eliot's note is a 1961-or-later text, not the first edition — the census claim that the 1937 first carries Eliot's endorsement is incorrect.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented. The common traps are the stated later impressions: second impression, July 1937, and third impression, 1938, each added to the copyright page beneath the June 1937 line. The 1961 Faber reissue and the 1961 Chilmark American edition are 'first thus' (Eliot's Note of Introduction added).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *In Parenthesis* by David Jones a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/in-parenthesis
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.