Is My Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London: Humphrey Milford — the imprint of the London branch of the Oxford University Press — 1918
• Full title: "Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Now First Published... Edited with Notes by Robert Bridges"
• First edition limited to 750 copies; [8], 124 pp., octavo
• Half-title present; illustrated with two photogravure portraits by Emery Walker and two double-page facsimiles of Hopkins's manuscripts — a copy lacking the portraits or facsimiles is defective, not a variant
• Bound in publisher's cloth- or linen-backed pale blue paper boards (described by dealers as half raw linen, or quarter cream cloth, over blue boards) with a printed paper label on the spine; largely uncut and frequently found unopened
• A textual/title-page point: Bridges introduced the middle name "Manley" on this title page to distinguish the poet from his nephew

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. 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.
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 only, and posthumous — the census claim is correct that this appeared in 1918, twenty-nine years after Hopkins's death in 1889 (he died 8 June 1889), with most of the poems printed here for the first time. No separate American first edition of this text was found in the sources consulted; treat any US imprint as later. First-thus trap: the second edition (Humphrey Milford / Oxford, 1930), with a critical introduction and notes by Charles Williams, adds sixteen poems and is the far more commonly encountered book — it is an expanded second edition, not the first. The census assertion that there was "no US edition until 1931" could not be corroborated and is therefore not repeated here.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented. The reprint tells are editorial rather than mechanical: any copy carrying an introduction or notes by Charles Williams (1930 second edition and its impressions) or by a later editor, or containing more poems than the first edition's contents, is not the 1918 first. The 750-copy limitation, the Emery Walker photogravures, the two double-page manuscript facsimiles and the printed spine label together identify the first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins a first edition?

A first edition of Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Gerard Manley Hopkins (ed. Robert Bridges) (Humphrey Milford) is identified by: London: Humphrey Milford — the imprint of the London branch of the Oxford University Press — 1918.

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. UK only, and posthumous — the census claim is correct that this appeared in 1918, twenty-nine years after Hopkins's death in 1889 (he died 8 June 1889), with most of the poems printed here for the first time.

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

No book-club edition is documented. The reprint tells are editorial rather than mechanical: any copy carrying an introduction or notes by Charles Williams (1930 second edition and its impressions) or by a later editor, or containing more poems than the first edition's contents, is not the 1918 first. The 750-copy limitation, the Emery Walker photogravures, the two double-page manuscript facsimiles and the printed spine label together identify the first.

I have a first edition of Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins — 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.