Chamber Music

Elkin Mathews, London, 1907 is the true and only first edition; there is no competing UK/US issue in 1907, and the census claim is confirmed. On the American side there is a documented trap the census misses: the first American appearance is the unauthorized Cornhill Company edition (Boston, June 1918, green cloth boards with the title gilt-stamped on the upper cover, roughly 1,000 copies), which precedes B. W. Huebsch's authorized first American edition (New York, 30 September 1918; Slocum & Cahoon A6) by about three months. The Huebsch carries a publisher's note stating that it is the only American edition authorized by Joyce — so 'first American edition' and 'first authorized American edition' are two different books. Chamber Music is Joyce's first book proper; only the broadside 'The Holy Office' and the lost 'Et Tu, Healy' precede it in print.