# Is "The Well at the World's End" by William Morris a First Edition?

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

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Kelmscott Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Morris |
| Publisher | Kelmscott Press |
| Year | 1896 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Two 1896 editions must be distinguished, and a description that names only one is incomplete |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Well at the World's End* by William Morris a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-well-at-the-worlds-end
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.