Is My Poems (Egoist Press) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, Abbott A1 — Moore's first book
• The Egoist Press (Harriet Shaw Weaver), London, 1921, printed at the Pelican Press, 2 Carmelite Street, E.C. Small octavo, about 21.5 x 14 cm, 24 pp
• (collated 23,[1]), gathering twenty-four poems
• Issued sewn and string-tied in stiff decorated patterned-paper wrappers with a printed paper label on the front cover
• No jacket was issued — glassine, when present, is later protection, as is any clamshell box
• There is no limitation statement and no number line: the Egoist Press imprint and the Pelican Press printer's note are the identification

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

UK true first; there is no US edition of this book and no original-language question. The census claim is confirmed: Poems was arranged in London by H.D. and Bryher with Weaver's agreement and printed without Moore's knowledge or approval — she disapproved of the selection and editing while praising the typography and cover — and it precedes Observations (The Dial Press, New York, 1924). One correction of emphasis the census invites: Observations is NOT the American edition of Poems. It is a separate, larger collection Moore herself assembled, and it was itself revised for a second edition in 1925. Both books are collected as firsts of their own contents; neither supersedes the other, and describing the Dial book as a US issue of the Egoist book is wrong.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue and no contemporaneous reprint — the Egoist Press printing stands alone. The traps are modern: print-on-demand and facsimile reprints of the 1921 sheets carry modern ISBNs (e.g. 9781293822333) while their catalogue records still read 'Egoist Press, publisher; Pelican Press, printer', which reads as a first to a keyword search; and full scans are freely available (Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, Wikisource). Any perfect-bound or cased copy, and any copy with an ISBN, is a reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Poems (Egoist Press) a first edition?

A first edition of Poems (Egoist Press) by Marianne Moore (The Egoist Press, London) is identified by: First edition, Abbott A1 — Moore's first book.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). UK true first; there is no US edition of this book and no original-language question.

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

No book-club issue and no contemporaneous reprint — the Egoist Press printing stands alone. The traps are modern: print-on-demand and facsimile reprints of the 1921 sheets carry modern ISBNs (e.g. 9781293822333) while their catalogue records still read 'Egoist Press, publisher; Pelican Press, printer', which reads as a first to a keyword search; and full scans are freely available (Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, Wikisource). Any perfect-bound or cased copy, and any copy with an ISBN, is a

I have a first edition of Poems (Egoist Press) — 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.