# Is "Verses" by Ernest Dowson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Verses by Ernest Dowson (Leonard Smithers, 1896) is identified by: Issued in two concurrent formats: an ordinary issue of 300 copies on handmade Van Gelder paper bound in imitation-vellum boards, and a large-paper issue of only 30 copies printed on Japanese vellum, each numbered and initialed by the publisher.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued in two concurrent formats: an ordinary issue of 300 copies on handmade Van Gelder paper bound in imitation-vellum boards, and a large-paper issue of only 30 copies printed on Japanese vellum, each numbered and initialed by the publisher
- Binding design and cover lettering are by Aubrey Beardsley; the title is printed in red and black, and the book was printed at the Chiswick Press (Charles Whittingham and Co.)
- Verses was Dowson's first book of poetry; a second and final collection, Decorations: In Verse and Prose, followed in 1899, also from Smithers
- Publisher imprint reads Leonard Smithers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ernest Dowson |
| Publisher | Leonard Smithers |
| Year | 1896 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Issued in two concurrent formats: an ordinary issue of 300 copies on handmade Van Gelder paper bound in imitation-vellum boards, and a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Issued in two concurrent formats: an ordinary issue of 300 copies on handmade Van Gelder paper bound in imitation-vellum boards, and a large-paper issue of only 30 copies printed on Japanese vellum, each numbered and initialed by the publisher. Binding design and cover lettering are by Aubrey Beardsley; the title is printed in red and black, and the book was printed at the Chiswick Press (Charles Whittingham and Co.). Verses was Dowson's first book of poetry; a second and final collection, Decorations: In Verse and Prose, followed in 1899, also from Smithers.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A posthumous collected Poems of Ernest Dowson (1905), assembled after his 1900 death, reprints the Verses material alongside other poems in a different editorial arrangement; it is not a reprint of the 1896 Smithers Verses.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Verses* by Ernest Dowson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/verses
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.