# Is "Sea Garden" by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sea Garden by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (Constable & Company Ltd., London, 1916) is identified by: First edition: Constable & Company Ltd., London, 1916 — H.D.'s first book of poems, issued in "The New Poetry Series" and printed by the Chiswick Press (Charles Whittingham and Co.), Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. UK Constable is the true first and the census is correct on precedence, but its supporting claim is wrong and is corrected here.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition: Constable & Company Ltd., London, 1916 — H.D.'s first book of poems, issued in "The New Poetry Series" and printed by the Chiswick Press (Charles Whittingham and Co.), Tooks Court, Chancery Lane
- Collation v, 47 pp., roughly 5 the printed price x 7 the printed price inches (20 cm), with a half-title bearing a printer's device, title page, contents, and a printer's mark on the reverse of page 47; the first contains twenty-eight poems
- The binding is the key point and is distinctive: red textured paper wrappers over flexible boards, titled in black on the spine and on the front cover, the front cover also carrying a printer's device
- There is no edition statement or number line — the Constable imprint, the 1916 date, the red paper wrappers and the v, 47 pp. collation together identify the first
- The author is given on the title page simply as "H. D." Spine splits and chipping at the wrapper ends are endemic to the format and are condition, not state
- Publisher imprint reads Constable & Company Ltd., London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) |
| Publisher | Constable & Company Ltd., London |
| Year | 1916 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First edition: Constable & Company Ltd., London, 1916 — H.D.'s first book of poems, issued in "The New Poetry Series" and printed by the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition: Constable & Company Ltd., London, 1916 — H.D.'s first book of poems, issued in "The New Poetry Series" and printed by the Chiswick Press (Charles Whittingham and Co.), Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. Collation v, 47 pp., roughly 5 the printed price x 7 the printed price inches (20 cm), with a half-title bearing a printer's device, title page, contents, and a printer's mark on the reverse of page 47; the first contains twenty-eight poems. The binding is the key point and is distinctive: red textured paper wrappers over flexible boards, titled in black on the spine and on the front cover, the front cover also carrying a printer's device. There is no edition statement or number line — the Constable imprint, the 1916 date, the red paper wrappers and the v, 47 pp. collation together identify the first. The author is given on the title page simply as "H. D." Spine splits and chipping at the wrapper ends are endemic to the format and are condition, not state.

## Is this the true first?
UK Constable is the true first and the census is correct on precedence, but its supporting claim is wrong and is corrected here. The first American edition is Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York, 1917 — not "the same year" — catalogued as Boughn A2 aii and bound in publisher's blue-green wraps printed in black, collating vi, 47, [1] pp. It is a distinct binding from the London issue, and no source consulted documents it as being printed from imported English sheets; that part of the census note is unsupported and should not be repeated. One bibliography does list the American edition as 1916, conflicting with the dealer and catalogue record of 1917, so the American edition's date should be treated as unsettled pending a Boughn collation. None of this disturbs the London Constable 1916 priority, which is not in conflict across sources. H.D. wrote in English; no original-language question arises.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue for a 1916 wrappered poetry pamphlet. The reprint tells are the first American edition (Houghton Mifflin, Boston & New York, 1917, blue-green printed wraps — frequently offered simply as "first edition") and the modern reissues: New Directions and Project Gutenberg/print-on-demand texts, plus scholarly reprints. Because both the London and Boston issues are wrappered and both collate to 47 pages of text, wrapper colour is the fastest sort — red over flexible boards for the London first, blue-green for the Boston issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sea Garden* by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sea-garden
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.