SECTION A: Books written, co-written or translated by Robert Graves

A35 BUT IT STÌLL GOES ON [1930]

General Comments

This book is significantly more complex textually than described in previous editions of this bibliography. There were two portions of the text that resulted in the cancellation of pages and reprinting new portions. The first, is as reported by H & W regarding the reference on p. 157 to The Child She Bare. This was corrected in the first impression, second state (A35b) with the insertion of a cancel leaf pp. 157/158 which deletes the reference to The Child She Bare. This was followed by a second impression with an integral p. 157 that makes no reference to The Child She Bare. At some later point, an individual launched a complaint with the publisher regarding Graves’s use of two letters Graves found in a second-hand book and reprinted in A35 in altered form. These letters appear on pp. 130-132. It was deemed that the author of the letters held the copyright despite Graves’s alterations of the names and other details. The publisher undertook a second cancellation of pages to remove the two letters addressed “Dear Sir Henry” and substituted an apology and explanation by Graves and thus created the second impression, second state of the book. Below is a likely chronology of the evolution of the book.

Added to the above is the fact that all impressions of the book have on p. [4] the notice “FIRST PUBLISHED 1930”.

a. First edition, first state:

Collation: [A]8 B–U8, 160 leaves.

2 pp. blank; p.[1] BUT IT STILL GOES ON; p.[2] list of books by Graves; p.[3] title-page; p.[4] publication, publisher’s and printer’s notices; p.[5] CONTENTS; p.[6] blank; p.[7] FOREWORD; p.[8] blank; p.|9] epigraph (6 ll.) by Laura Riding; p.[10] blank; p.[11] PART ONE; p.[12] blank; pp. 13–104 text; p.[105] PART TWO; p.[106] blank; pp.l07–207 text; p.[208] blank; p.[209] PART THREE; p.[210] blank; pp.211–315 text; pp.[316] – [318] blank.

Price: 10s. 6d. Number of copies: 5,000. Published in November 1930 in an aqua paper dust-jacket printed in plum.

Contents: I: Postscript to ‘Good-Bye to All That’ – Old Papa Johnson – Avocado Pears – The Shout – II: A Journal of Curiosities, with the First and Last Chapters of ‘The Autobiography of Baal’ – III: But It Still Goes On: A Play

Note: p. 157 has a reference to The Child She Bare in the first paragraph and the leaf with pp. 157/158 is integral.

A35b. First impression, second state ([1930]):

Title-page, collation, paper and binding as A35a; but p. 157 has no reference to The Child She Bare in the first paragraph and pp. 157/158 is a cancel pasted to the stub of K7.

A35c. Second impression, first state ([1930]):

As A35b but with no cancel. Some copies of both A35a and A35c are 19.7 × 13.4 cm., the binding correspondingly smaller; but the type-page of both is the same size. Page 157 has no reference to The Child She Bare in the first paragraph and the leaf bearing pp. 157/158 is integral.

Note: This might well be termed a concealed second impression given that the verso of the title-page (p. [4]) retains the words “FIRST PUBLISHED 1930”.

A35d. Second impression, second state ([1930]):

As A35c except pp. 129-132 are cancels printed as a bifolium and pasted to the stubs of pp. 129 and 132. On p. 130 below the heading “September 3rd” is “AN APOLOGY AND EXPLANATION”, Graves’s explanation and apology for the use of the letters addressed “Dear Sir Henry”; p.131 is a continuation and conclusion of Graves’s apology and explanation; p.132, except for the page number and header, consists of four stars in a diamond shape.

A35e. First American edition ([1931]):

Collation: [1]–[21]8, 168 leaves.

pp.[i]–[ii] blank; p.[iii] BUT IT STILL GOES ON; p.[iv] list of books by Graves and publisher’s notices; p.[v] title-page; p.[vi] copyright, publishing and printing notices; p.[vii] epigraph (6 ll.) by Laura Riding; p.[viii] blank; p.[ix] FOREWORD; p.[x] blank; p.[xi] CONTENTS; p.[xii] blank; p.[1] PART ONE; p.[2] blank; pp.[3] 4–98 text with pp.[49, 64, 72] unnumbered; p.[99] PART TWO; p.[100] blank; p.[101] 102–203 text with pp.[170, 192] unnumbered; p.[204] blank; p.[205] PART THREE; p.[206] blank; pp.[207] 208–319 text with pp.[209, 249, 288] unnumbered; pp.[320] –[324] blank, fore-edges unopened.

20.4 × 13.9 cm . Bulk: 2.9/3.5 cm. White wove paper; top and bottom edges trimmed; top edges stained black. White wove endpapers. Bound in dark green cloth; back blank; front blind-stamped with publisher’s emblem and swirls above and below; spine stamped in gold: BUT IT | STILL | GOES ON | [swirl] | ROBERT GRAVES | JONATHAN CAPE | HARRISON SMITH

Price: $2.50. Number of copies undetermined. Published 26 January 1931 in tan wove dust-jacket printed in blue-green and black.

Notes: p.152 of this edition contains the reference to The Child She Bare. The letters addressed ‘Dear Sir Henry’ are present on pp.125-127.

A copy in light blue cloth with top edges stained purple, possibly a remainder binding, has front and back covers blank; spine in black: BUT IT | STILL | GOES ON | [swirl] | ROBERT GRAVES

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