Is My Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (edited by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The 1925 first impression carries no impression or reprint statement — later Clarendon issues add a line reading in substance 'First published 1925; reprinted with corrections 1930, 1936', so the presence of any reprint line rules the copy out
• Bound in original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers ruled in gilt and blind with a gilt axe device stamped on the front cover, edges untrimmed (copies are often found partially unopened)
• The publisher's errata leaf is tipped in after p. vi as issued, and the frontispiece and plate reproducing the sole surviving manuscript (British Library) are protected by two fragile tissue guards — both errata and guards are called for
• Octavo, approximately 211-212 pp.; the editors argued Clarendon past its requested 160-page limit to accommodate Tolkien's glossary
• A first-impression print run of 2,500 copies is the figure reported in the Hammond & Anderson descriptive bibliography and repeated by dealers; copies survive mostly in used, annotated classroom condition

How Clarendon Press marked a first edition

• Until the late 1980s OUP made NO affirmative first-edition statement; first printings carried only the copyright/publication line, while LATER printings were noted ('Reprinted 19xx,' 'Second impression') on the copyright…
• From the late 1980s OUP adopted a number row/line on the copyright page; the lowest number present indicates the printing ('1' = first).

Full Clarendon 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. 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. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1925 is the sole true first — there is no separately set US first edition. Two 'first thus' traps: (1) the revised second edition prepared by Norman Davis (Clarendon Press, 1967) reuses the Tolkien-Gordon text but is a later edition, not this book; (2) Tolkien's Modern English verse translation, published as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (Allen & Unwin, London, 1975; Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1975), is an entirely different work and is frequently mis-catalogued as the '1925 Tolkien Gawain.' This 1925 scholarly edition is Tolkien's collectible book debut.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition exists for an academic Clarendon text. The reprint tells are printed rather than physical: any copy whose title-page verso records a 1930, 1936 or later corrected impression is a reprint, as is any copy lacking the tipped-in errata leaf where the leaf has not simply been removed. Later Clarendon/OUP impressions were also issued in variant cloth and, latterly, in wrappers.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (edited by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon) a first edition?

A first edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (edited by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon) by J.R.R. Tolkien (editor, with E. V. Gordon) (Clarendon Press) is identified by: The 1925 first impression carries no impression or reprint statement — later Clarendon issues add a line reading in substance 'First published 1925; reprinted with corrections 1930, 1936', so the presence of any reprint line rules the copy out.

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.

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

No book-club edition exists for an academic Clarendon text. The reprint tells are printed rather than physical: any copy whose title-page verso records a 1930, 1936 or later corrected impression is a reprint, as is any copy lacking the tipped-in errata leaf where the leaf has not simply been removed. Later Clarendon/OUP impressions were also issued in variant cloth and, latterly, in wrappers.

I have a first edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (edited by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon) — 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.