Is My The Well at the World's End a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Two 1896 editions must be distinguished, and a description that names only one is incomplete
• The Kelmscott Press book (Hammersmith, dated 2 March 1896, issued 4 June 1896
• Peterson A39) is limited to 350 copies on paper, printed in Chaucer type with chapter and shoulder titles in red, four large woodcut illustrations after Edward Burne-Jones, and Morris's woodcut initials and borders, issued in publisher's limp vellum with green silk ties; it spent longer in production than any other Kelmscott publication, printing from December 1892 to March 1896, and was originally to have been illustrated by Arthur J. Gaskin before Morris replaced his work with Burne-Jones's
• The Longmans, Green trade edition (London, 1896) is in 2 volumes, pp. vii, 378, [1] and vi, 279, [1], in publisher's linen-backed boards with printed paper spine labels — the labels are commonly chipped or lost
• Neither carries a printing statement or number line; identification is by imprint, format and limitation

How Kelmscott Press marked a first edition

• Hand-press letterpress limited editions (1891–1898), each with a printed colophon stating the limitation (paper copies plus a small number on VELLUM)

Full Kelmscott 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. 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. 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.
4. 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?

CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED. The claim that the Kelmscott limited simply 'precedes' the Longmans, Green trade edition is only half right, and is backwards on printing. Peterson A39 (William S. Peterson, A Bibliography of the Kelmscott Press, Clarendon Press, 1984) records that the Kelmscott text was set FROM the sheets of the Longmans edition then being printed at the Chiswick Press; those Chiswick/Longmans sheets were finished in 1894 and deliberately held back so that the Kelmscott edition might be the first to appear. The Kelmscott therefore holds publication priority (issued 4 June 1896) while the Longmans trade edition holds printing priority (completed 1894, published October 1896), and dealers citing Peterson state that bibliographers consider the Longmans printing the true first edition. Both are collected; describe both, and state which kind of priority is meant rather than asserting a bare 'first'.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented in the sources consulted for either 1896 issue. Reprint tells are structural rather than textual: the Longmans first is a 2-volume set in linen-backed boards with printed paper spine labels, so any one-volume 'Well at the World's End' in ordinary publisher's cloth is a later printing or reprint. A Kelmscott claim must be supported by Chaucer type, the four Burne-Jones woodcuts, the Morris borders and initials, and the limp vellum with ties, since modern facsimiles and reprints exist and the Kelmscott name is often loosely applied to trade reprints of the text.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Well at the World's End a first edition?

A first edition of The Well at the World's End by William Morris (Kelmscott Press) is identified by: Two 1896 editions must be distinguished, and a description that names only one is incomplete.

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). CENSUS CLAIM CORRECTED.

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

No book-club edition is documented in the sources consulted for either 1896 issue. Reprint tells are structural rather than textual: the Longmans first is a 2-volume set in linen-backed boards with printed paper spine labels, so any one-volume 'Well at the World's End' in ordinary publisher's cloth is a later printing or reprint. A Kelmscott claim must be supported by Chaucer type, the four Burne-Jones woodcuts, the Morris borders and initials, and the limp vellum with ties, since modern facsimi

I have a first edition of The Well at the World's End — 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.