Is My Copy of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Cuala Press (Churchtown, Dundrum), 1914, printed by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and limited to 400 copies, bound in linen-backed grey boards with the title printed in black on the upper cover and a Cuala/Dun Emer woodcut device; collation [viii], 74, [10] pp (Wade 110)
• Some copies carry an erratum slip
• It contains the thirty-one 'Responsibilities' poems and a new version of the play 'The Hour-Glass.'

How The Cuala Press marked a first edition

• Hand-press limited editions on Irish handmade paper, printed with Caslon type; printed colophon giving a small stated limitation (often a few hundred)
• The Cuala (or earlier Dun Emer) device/colophon and the 'Press' statement identify the issue and era — Dun Emer (1902–08) vs. Cuala (1908 on)

Full The Cuala 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. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
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?

First-thus trap: the Macmillan (London) 1916 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' is a distinct, expanded trade edition (different title, ~1,000 copies) that adds 'The Well and the Tree,' poems from 'The Green Helmet' and the 1912 New York edition, and 'The Hour-Glass' — not a reprint of the Cuala book. The Cuala Press (Dundrum) 1914 is the true first of 'Responsibilities: Poems and a Play.'P-044793

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. Do not conflate the 1916 Macmillan 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' or later collected reprints with the 1914 Cuala first.P-044794

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play a first edition?

A first edition of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play by W.B. Yeats (The Cuala Press) is identified by: The true first is the Cuala Press (Churchtown, Dundrum), 1914, printed by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and limited to 400 copies, bound in linen-backed grey boards with the title printed in black on the upper cover and a Cuala/Dun Emer woodcut device; collation [viii], 74, [10] pp (Wade 110).

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. First-thus trap: the Macmillan (London) 1916 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' is a distinct, expanded trade edition (different title, ~1,000 copies) that adds 'The Well and the Tree,' poems from 'The Green Helmet' and the 1912 New York edition, and 'The Hour-Glass' — not a reprint of the Cuala book.

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

No book-club edition. Do not conflate the 1916 Macmillan 'Responsibilities and Other Poems' or later collected reprints with the 1914 Cuala first.

I have a first edition of Responsibilities: Poems and a Play — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.