Is My Tamar and Other Poems a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Title page reads "Tamar and Other Poems | By Robinson Jeffers | New York | Peter G. Boyle | 1924." Jeffers paid for the printing himself and Boyle — the printer — offered to serve as publisher; the edition was 500 copies and the book was printed once, so there is no printing statement, no number line, and no later Boyle printing to separate from the first
• The book is a small octavo of 127 pp. bound in gray linen-covered boards stamped in gilt, issued in an unprinted paper dust jacket
• The jacket colour is a genuine point carrying a documented correction: Sidney Alberts described the jacket as gray in his Jeffers bibliography and later acknowledged the error in a signed note on a copy — the jacket is brown and unprinted
• Jacketed copies are seldom encountered, and the print quality of the Boyle printing is contemporaneously described as poor

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
3. Verify this is the American 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?

American origin, and the census wording should be corrected: Peter G. Boyle, New York, 1924 is the true first for the Tamar collection and for the poem "Tamar," and it was never reissued. Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems (Boni & Liveright, New York, 1925) is a separate, newly set and expanded collection — the Tamar contents plus the new narrative "Roan Stallion" and the drama "The Tower Beyond Tragedy" — and is itself the true first of those pieces and the first major publication of Jeffers's mature work; both books are collected in their own right. The first English appearance is the Hogarth Press, London, 1928 (Hogarth Living Poets No. 4), bound from Boni & Liveright American sheets in printed boards designed by Vanessa Bell and recorded at 520 copies of which 130 were later pulped (Woolmer 167) — an issue of American sheets, not a British first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue and no reprint of the 1924 Boyle printing is documented; it was a single printing of 500 copies. The realistic confusions are title-driven rather than club-driven: copies of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems (Boni & Liveright, 1925) and the 1928 Hogarth Press issue made from those American sheets are frequently catalogued simply as "Tamar." Any copy bearing a publisher other than Peter G. Boyle on the title page, or in printed boards or a printed jacket, is not the 1924 first. One source conflict is worth flagging on the shelf: narrative accounts of Jeffers storing roughly 450 copies in the eaves of his house describe unsold stock, not the edition size, which the dealer and bibliographic record gives as 500.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Tamar and Other Poems a first edition?

A first edition of Tamar and Other Poems by Robinson Jeffers (Peter G. Boyle, New York) is identified by: Title page reads "Tamar and Other Poems | By Robinson Jeffers | New York | Peter G.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). American origin, and the census wording should be corrected: Peter G.

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

No book-club issue and no reprint of the 1924 Boyle printing is documented; it was a single printing of 500 copies. The realistic confusions are title-driven rather than club-driven: copies of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems (Boni & Liveright, 1925) and the 1928 Hogarth Press issue made from those American sheets are frequently catalogued simply as "Tamar." Any copy bearing a publisher other than Peter G. Boyle on the title page, or in printed boards or a printed jacket, is not the 1924 fir

I have a first edition of Tamar and Other Poems — 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.