Is My Responsibilities: Poems and a Play a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Cuala Press (Churchtown, Dundrum), 1914, printed by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and limited to 400 copies, bound in linen-backed grey boards with the title printed in black on the upper cover and a Cuala/Dun Emer woodcut device; collation [viii], 74, [10] pp (Wade 110)
• Some copies carry an erratum slip
• It contains the thirty-one 'Responsibilities' poems and a new version of the play 'The Hour-Glass.'

How The Cuala Press marked a first edition

• Hand-press limited editions on Irish handmade paper, printed with Caslon type; printed colophon giving a small stated limitation (often a few hundred)
• The Cuala (or earlier Dun Emer) device/colophon and the 'Press' statement identify the issue and era — Dun Emer (1902–08) vs. Cuala (1908 on)

Full The Cuala Press first-edition guide →

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?

First-thus trap: the Macmillan (London) 1916 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' is a distinct, expanded trade edition (different title, ~1,000 copies) that adds 'The Well and the Tree,' poems from 'The Green Helmet' and the 1912 New York edition, and 'The Hour-Glass' — not a reprint of the Cuala book. The Cuala Press (Dundrum) 1914 is the true first of 'Responsibilities: Poems and a Play.'

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. Do not conflate the 1916 Macmillan 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' or later collected reprints with the 1914 Cuala first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play a first edition?

A first edition of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play by W.B. Yeats (The Cuala Press) is identified by: The true first is the Cuala Press (Churchtown, Dundrum), 1914, printed by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and limited to 400 copies, bound in linen-backed grey boards with the title printed in black on the upper cover and a Cuala/Dun Emer woodcut device; collation [viii], 74, [10] pp (Wade 110).

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. First-thus trap: the Macmillan (London) 1916 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' is a distinct, expanded trade edition (different title, ~1,000 copies) that adds 'The Well and the Tree,' poems from 'The Green Helmet' and the 1912 New York edition, and 'The Hour-Glass' — not a reprint of the Cuala book.

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

No book-club edition. Do not conflate the 1916 Macmillan 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' or later collected reprints with the 1914 Cuala first.

I have a first edition of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play — 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.