Is My The Waste Land a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in book form, US: Boni & Liveright, New York, December 1922, 1,000 copies (Gallup A6a) -- the first appearance of the poem in book form and the first printing to carry Eliot's Notes
• Issue is determined by the binding and colophon, NOT by the text: the first 500 copies are in FLEXIBLE black cloth with the hand-stamped limitation number in the colophon about 5 mm high; the second 500 are in stiffer black cloth boards with the colophon number about 2 mm high
• Black cloth lettered in gilt on front cover and spine
• On page 41 (line 339) some copies read 'mountain' and others 'mountan' (a letter that dropped out during the run)
• Gallup records these as two states with NO established priority of issue -- so the page-41 reading alone does not establish precedence
• Use the binding and the colophon-numeral height instead

How Boni and Liveright marked a first edition

• No statement of printing on the copyright page of firsts; later printings designated 'second printing', etc.
• Therefore: absence of any later-printing notice = first printing (for the vintage era).

Full Boni and Liveright 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?

The Boni & Liveright New York edition (December 1922, 1,000 copies) is the true first edition in book form and PRECEDES the UK Hogarth Press edition (1923, about 460 copies, hand-set by Leonard and Virginia Woolf). Before either book the poem appeared in periodicals -- The Criterion (London, Oct 1922) and The Dial (New York, Nov 1922). Within the Boni & Liveright first printing, the earlier ISSUE is the flexible-cloth binding with the 5 mm colophon numeral; the 'mountain' / 'mountan' page-41 variants are states without priority and must not be used to rank copies.P-037330

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book club. A Boni & Liveright 'second edition' (1923) revises the limitation statement. The principal confusion is US first (Boni & Liveright 1922) vs. UK first (Hogarth 1923) -- the US precedes. Verify the 1,000-copy first printing by the black-cloth binding and the colophon-numeral height (about 5 mm = the first 500); do not rely on the page-41 'mountain' / 'mountan' reading, which has no established issue priority.P-037331

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Waste Land a first edition?

A first edition of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot (Boni and Liveright) is identified by: First edition in book form, US: Boni & Liveright, New York, December 1922, 1,000 copies (Gallup A6a) -- the first appearance of the poem in book form and the first printing to carry Eliot's Notes.

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. The Boni & Liveright New York edition (December 1922, 1,000 copies) is the true first edition in book form and PRECEDES the UK Hogarth Press edition (1923, about 460 copies, hand-set by Leonard and Virginia Woolf).

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

No book club. A Boni & Liveright 'second edition' (1923) revises the limitation statement. The principal confusion is US first (Boni & Liveright 1922) vs. UK first (Hogarth 1923) -- the US precedes. Verify the 1,000-copy first printing by the black-cloth binding and the colophon-numeral height (about 5 mm = the first 500); do not rely on the page-41 'mountain' / 'mountan' reading, which has no established issue priority.

I have a first edition of The Waste Land — 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.