# Is "Tamar and Other Poems" by Robinson Jeffers a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tamar and Other Poems by Robinson Jeffers (Peter G. Boyle, New York, 1924) is identified by: Title page reads "Tamar and Other Poems | By Robinson Jeffers | New York | Peter G. American origin, and the census wording should be corrected: Peter G.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Peter G. Boyle, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robinson Jeffers |
| Publisher | Peter G. Boyle, New York |
| Year | 1924 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Title page reads "Tamar and Other Poems | By Robinson Jeffers | New York | Peter G. Boyle | 1924." Jeffers paid for the printing himself… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tamar and Other Poems* by Robinson Jeffers a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tamar-and-other-poems
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.