# Is "Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads)" by Federico García Lorca a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads) by Federico García Lorca (Revista de Occidente, Madrid, 1928) is identified by: True first: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, published June 1928; printed by Tipografía Nacional, San Marcos 4, Madrid. The Spanish original is the true first and the only edition collected as such: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, 1928.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Revista de Occidente, Madrid

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Federico García Lorca |
| Publisher | Revista de Occidente, Madrid |
| Year | 1928 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | True first: Revista de Occidente, Madrid, published June 1928; printed by Tipografía Nacional, San Marcos 4, Madrid |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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. The edition was printed on poor-quality paper and sold out immediately on publication, so copies in the original wrappers are uncommon and are routinely rebound. No edition or printing statement is present; identification rests on the imprint, date, printer's line, format and wrappers.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Primer romancero gitano (Romancero gitano / Gypsy Ballads)* by Federico García Lorca a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/primer-romancero-gitano-romancero-gitano-gypsy-ballads
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.