Is My The Wild Swans at Coole a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The Cuala first is titled in full 'The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and A Play in Verse'
• Published November 1917 in a limitation of 400 copies, the limitation recorded in the colophon at the rear printed in red; the Cuala charging-unicorn device appears on the leaf preceding the title
• Octavo, bound in quarter linen (grey or buff) over blue paper-covered boards, title printed in black on the upper cover, printed paper label to the spine, blue endpapers, edges untrimmed
• The boards fade readily and faded copies are catalogued variously as lavender, grey, or dark blue, so board colour alone is not a reliable point — rely on the colophon limitation
• Contents are 29 poems together with the first printing of the play At the Hawk's Well
• No number line or printing statement

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
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?

Ireland precedes England, and the two editions are not the same book. The Cuala Press issue (Churchtown, Dundrum, November 1917, 400 copies) is the true first. Macmillan's trade edition of March 1919 drops At the Hawk's Well and adds poems, including the first book appearances of 'In Memory of Major Robert Gregory' and 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death'; sources consulted disagree on how many poems were added (counts of eleven and seventeen both appear), so treat the number as unsettled. Both editions are collected: the Cuala for priority and for the play, the 1919 Macmillan for the first appearance of the Gregory elegies. Guard against a common and demonstrable dealer error: some catalogue descriptions list the Gregory poems in the 1917 Cuala. That is impossible. Robert Gregory was killed on 23 January 1918, after the Cuala book was published, and the elegies were written in 1918. A 1917 Cuala copy containing those poems does not exist; a description claiming one is misdescribed.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. No later Cuala printing in this setting is recorded in the sources consulted, so a copy in this setting should be one of the 400 — verify against the colophon. The tells that matter are later-edition rather than club tells: a Macmillan imprint (1919 and after) is a different edition with different contents, not a reprint of the Cuala, and Yeats's poems were later gathered into collected volumes under other imprints that share none of these points.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Wild Swans at Coole a first edition?

A first edition of The Wild Swans at Coole by W. B. Yeats (The Cuala Press, Churchtown, Dundrum) is identified by: The Cuala first is titled in full 'The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and A Play in Verse'.

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). Ireland precedes England, and the two editions are not the same book.

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

No book-club edition. No later Cuala printing in this setting is recorded in the sources consulted, so a copy in this setting should be one of the 400 — verify against the colophon. The tells that matter are later-edition rather than club tells: a Macmillan imprint (1919 and after) is a different edition with different contents, not a reprint of the Cuala, and Yeats's poems were later gathered into collected volumes under other imprints that share none of these points.

I have a first edition of The Wild Swans at Coole — 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.