Is My Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, published June 1928; printed by Tipografía Nacional, San Marcos 4, Madrid
• The title-page reads "Primer romancero gitano
• 1924–1927"
• A small-format volume of 149 pages, approximately 17 cm, issued in the publisher's printed wrappers, uncut; the text collects 18 ballads written 1924–1927
• The copyright line reads "COPYRIGHT BY REVISTA DE OCCIDENTE MADRID, 1928", with the Tipografía Nacional printer's imprint
• The wrapper design — a drawing in red and black — is the volume's most conspicuous feature and is attributed to Lorca himself by Universo Lorca (Diputación de Granada); that attribution rests on a single institutional source and is reported rather than established

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. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

The Spanish original is the true first and the only edition collected as such: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, 1928. There is no competing UK/US edition of the period — Lorca had not yet appeared in English book form in 1928, so no precedence question arises. The census note that "English translations only from the late 1930s" is imprecise and is refined here: Lorca's first appearance in English book form was A. L. Lloyd's bilingual selection Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and Other Poems (Heinemann, London, 1937; an Oxford University Press New York issue the same year), which is a selection, NOT the Romancero gitano. The Romancero gitano itself first reached English book form in Langston Hughes's translation, issued as Beloit Poetry Journal Chapbook No. 1 (1951, introduction by Robert Glauber, illustrated by John McNee Jr., a run of one thousand copies), followed by Rolfe Humphries's translation (Indiana University Press, 1953). All English versions are translations, never firsts.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. The live trap is facsimile reproduction: a modern facsimile of the 1928 Revista de Occidente first edition is in print from JdeJ Editores (ISBN 9788412232929) and reproduces the original wrapper and setting, so an apparently pristine "1928" copy in fresh wrappers warrants paper and binding examination. Later authorised editions dropped the qualifier "Primer" from the title, but the sources consulted did not agree on which edition first did so, so that point is not asserted here.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads) a first edition?

A first edition of Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads) by Federico García Lorca (Revista de Occidente, Madrid) is identified by: True first: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, published June 1928; printed by Tipografía Nacional, San Marcos 4, Madrid.

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. The Spanish original is the true first and the only edition collected as such: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, 1928.

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

No book-club issue is documented. The live trap is facsimile reproduction: a modern facsimile of the 1928 Revista de Occidente first edition is in print from JdeJ Editores (ISBN 9788412232929) and reproduces the original wrapper and setting, so an apparently pristine "1928" copy in fresh wrappers warrants paper and binding examination. Later authorised editions dropped the qualifier "Primer" from the title, but the sources consulted did not agree on which edition first did so, so that point is n

I have a first edition of Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads) — 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.