# Is "Whoroscope" by Samuel Beckett a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Whoroscope by Samuel Beckett (The Hours Press, 1930) is identified by: Beckett's first separately published book, issued in a single printing of 300 numbered copies: 100 signed by Beckett and 200 unsigned. No precedence question.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Beckett's first separately published book, issued in a single printing of 300 numbered copies: 100 signed by Beckett and 200 unsigned
- Bound as a slim pamphlet in the publisher's printed red wrappers, stapled as issued — rust staining from the staples and foxing are normal age characteristics, not reprint tells
- The critical and most frequently absent point is the publisher's printed paper belly band, which announces that the poem took the prize in Nancy Cunard's Hours Press competition for the best poem on the subject of Time, judged by Richard Aldington and Cunard; the great majority of surviving copies lack it
- The poem carries Beckett's own explanatory notes on the Descartes material, appended at Cunard's request
- Catalogued as Federman & Fletcher 5
- Recorded copies show signed examples in the low numbers and unsigned examples in the upper range, but no source we consulted states the numbering ranges explicitly, so confirm the signature rather than inferring issue from the number
- Publisher imprint reads The Hours Press

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Samuel Beckett |
| Publisher | The Hours Press |
| Year | 1930 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Beckett's first separately published book, issued in a single printing of 300 numbered copies: 100 signed by Beckett and 200 unsigned |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Beckett's first separately published book, issued in a single printing of 300 numbered copies: 100 signed by Beckett and 200 unsigned. Bound as a slim pamphlet in the publisher's printed red wrappers, stapled as issued — rust staining from the staples and foxing are normal age characteristics, not reprint tells. The critical and most frequently absent point is the publisher's printed paper belly band, which announces that the poem took the prize in Nancy Cunard's Hours Press competition for the best poem on the subject of Time, judged by Richard Aldington and Cunard; the great majority of surviving copies lack it. The poem carries Beckett's own explanatory notes on the Descartes material, appended at Cunard's request. Catalogued as Federman & Fletcher 5. Recorded copies show signed examples in the low numbers and unsigned examples in the upper range, but no source we consulted states the numbering ranges explicitly, so confirm the signature rather than inferring issue from the number.

## Is this the true first?
No precedence question. Whoroscope was published only in Paris by the Hours Press in 1930 and had no contemporaneous London or New York edition; the poem's later appearances are in Beckett's collected poetry volumes and are 'first thus' at best. Any standalone 'Whoroscope' outside the 1930 Hours Press pamphlet is a later printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition exists — a 300-copy Paris private-press pamphlet was never club-issued or trade-reprinted in this form. The practical hazards are not reprints but incomplete and loosely described copies: the printed band is missing far more often than present, and unsigned copies are sometimes catalogued with limitation language that implies the signed issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Whoroscope* by Samuel Beckett a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/whoroscope
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.