Is My Michael Robartes and the Dancer a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Churchtown, Dundrum: The Cuala Press
• CORRECTION to the census year: the title page is dated MCMXX
• , not 1921 — the printed text reads "THE CUALA PRESS / CHURCHTOWN / DUNDRUM / MCMXX" — and the colophon records the printing as finished on All Souls' Day 1920, while Wade records actual publication in February 1921
• Catalogues therefore split between 1920 and 1921 for one and the same book; there is only one Cuala printing, so the discrepancy is a cataloguing artefact, not two editions
• Limited to 400 copies, hand-printed by the poet's sister Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, the text elegantly printed in red and black
• Bound in blue paper boards backed in buff half-linen, all edges untrimmed; issued in a plain tan dust jacket

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Irish, and the census claim of Cuala Press precedence is correct: Churchtown, Dundrum is the true and only first edition; there is no competing London or New York edition of this title, and the poems were subsequently absorbed into Macmillan's collected editions, which are first thus. CORRECTION to the census contents note: this is the first book appearance of "The Second Coming" (first printed in The Dial, November 1920) and of "A Prayer for My Daughter", but it is NOT the first printing of "Easter, 1916" — that poem was privately printed as a separate pamphlet by Clement Shorter in an edition of 25 copies (sources differ between late 1916 and early 1917) and then appeared in The New Statesman on 23 October 1920, both preceding the Cuala volume. Michael Robartes and the Dancer is the first appearance of "Easter, 1916" in a Yeats collection, and the 1916/17 Shorter text differs from the 1920/21 text.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition; Cuala hand-press books were not reprinted by the press. The reprint traps are Macmillan's collected editions, the modern Cornell "Manuscript Materials" scholarly volume, and Wikisource/Project Gutenberg digital texts — none of which are editions of issue.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Michael Robartes and the Dancer a first edition?

A first edition of Michael Robartes and the Dancer by W. B. Yeats (The Cuala Press, Churchtown, Dundrum) is identified by: Churchtown, Dundrum: The Cuala Press.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Irish, and the census claim of Cuala Press precedence is correct: Churchtown, Dundrum is the true and only first edition; there is no competing London or New York edition of this title, and the poems were subsequently absorbed into Macmillan's collected editions, which are first thus.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club edition; Cuala hand-press books were not reprinted by the press. The reprint traps are Macmillan's collected editions, the modern Cornell "Manuscript Materials" scholarly volume, and Wikisource/Project Gutenberg digital texts — none of which are editions of issue.

I have a first edition of Michael Robartes and the Dancer — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.