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

A61 THE WHITE GODDESS [1948]

a First edition:

Collation: π8 A–Z8 2A-2C8 2D4, 216 leaves.

p.[1] THE WHITE GODDESS; p.[2] list of books by Graves; p.[3] title-page; p. [4] publication, publisher’s and printer’s notices; p.[5] IN DEDICATION; p.[6] blank; pp.7–[8] CONTENTS; pp.9–12 FOREWORD; pp. 13–412 text; pp.413–430 INDEX; pp.[431]–[432]blank.

Price: 30s. Number of copies: 2,340. Published 21 May 1948 in canary dust-jacket printed in black and red. The back flap is blank.

Contents: ‘In Dedication’ – Foreword – I. Poets and Gleemen – II. The Battle of the Trees – III. Dog, Roebuck and Lapwing – IV. The White Goddess – V. Gwion’s Riddle – VI. A Visit to Spiral Castle – VII. Gwion’s Riddle Solved – VIII. Hercules on the Lotus – IX. Gwion’s Heresy – X. The Tree-Alphabet (I) – XI. The Tree-Alphabet (2) – XII. The Song of Amergin – XIII. Palamedes and the Cranes – XIV. The Roebuck in the Thicket – XV. The Seven Pillars – XVI. The Holy Unspeakable Name of God – XVII. The Lion with the Steady Hand – XVIII. The Bull-Footed God – XIX. The Number of the Beast – XX. A Conversation at Paphos–A.D.43 –XXI. The Waters of the Styx – XXII. The Triple Muse – XXIII. Fabulous Beasts –XXIV. The Single Poetic Theme – XXV. War in Heaven – Index.

Notes: ‘In Dedication’ is 10 lines long.

Impressions: 2nd, October 1948 (1,500 copies).

I have examined a variant copy of the first impression bound in pale blue cloth. The jacket is tan paper printed in black and red, as above, except the back flap has an advertisement for ‘The Gate of Horn’ by G. R. Levy.

The second impression (1948) is in a jacket priced 35s. The back flap advertises ‘The Gate of Horn’. A later jacket advertises on the back flap ‘The Gate of Horn’, ‘Poetic Diction’ and ‘An Introduction to Welsh Poetry’.

A ballet based upon this work was performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1983.

This book has been translated into Bulgarian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

A61b. First American edition (1948):

Collation: [1]8 [2] – [13]16 [14]4 [15]8, 212 leaves.

p.[i] THE WHITE GODDESS; p.[ii] list of books by Graves; p. [iii] title-page; p.[iv] copyright, edition and printer’s notices; p.[v] IN DEDICATION; p.[vi] blank; pp.vii–viii CONTENTS; pp.ix–xii FOREWORD; p.[1] THE WHITE GODDESS; p. [2] blank; pp.3–392 text; pp.393–412 SUBJECT INDEX.

21.5 × 14.8 cm. Bulk: 2.7/3.3 cm. White laid paper; top edges only trimmed. White wove endpapers. Bound in brown cloth; back blank; front stamped with three-quarter box, open toward spine, containing three cranes and star below, the edges of the box aligning with rules on spine; spine stamped in black: [rule] | GRAVES THE | WHITE | GODDESS | CREATIVE AGE | [rule]

Price: $4.50. Number of copies unknown. Published 26 August 1948 in white dust-jacket printed in brown, black and yellow. In the earliest copies, the back flap of the jacket lacks the ‘PRINTED IN U.S.A.’ notice.

A61c. Second English edition ([1952]):

Collation: [A]8 B–2H8, 248 leaves.

p.[1] THE WHITE GODDESS; p.[2] list of books by Graves; p.[3] title-page; p.[4] publication, publisher’s and printer’s notices; p.[5] IN DEDICATION; p.[6] blank; pp.7–[8] CONTENTS; pp.9–15 FOREWORD; p.[16] blank; pp.17–478 text; pp.479–496 INDEX.

21.9 × 14.0 cm. Bulk: 2.6/3.1 cm. White wove paper, all edges trimmed. White wove endpapers. Remainder as in A61a, except no edges are stained.

Price: 35s. Number of copies: 2,000. Published in October 1952, in yellow dust-jacket printed in red and black. A new list of books is printed on rear cover.

Contents: As A61a, but the ‘Foreword’ has been revised and Chapter XXVI (The Return of the Goddess) is new; ‘In Dedication’ has 22 lines.

Note: Impressions: 2nd, February 1959 (2,000 copies).

A61d. Second American impression ([1958]):

Collation as A61b. Remainder as A61b, except p.[iv] has copyright and printing notices only.

Price: $5.00. Number of copies unknown. Published in 1958 in white dust-jacket printed in black, yellow and brown.

Note: This impression is a photographic reproduction of A61b.

A61e. Second American edition (1958):

Collation: 288 leaves, glued at the spine.

p.[i] The White Goddess; p.[ii] blank; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] publisher’s, arrangement, copyright and manufacturing notices; p.[v]vi–xi Foreword; p.[xii] Contents; p.[1] The White Goddess; p.[2] In Dedication; pp.[3] 4–541 text, with pp.[15, 35, 50, 66, 91, 110, 121, 140, 168, 196, 215, 236, 262, 278, 294, 329, 342, 375, 384, 402, 424, 455, 471, 495, 526] unnumbered; p.[542] blank; pp.[i] ii–xix Index; p.[xx] biographical note and printer’s, papermaker’s and designer’s notices; pp.[xxi]–[xxii] publisher’s advertisements.

18.4 ×11.0 cm. Bulk: 2.6 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in white paper covers printed in black, light blue, medium blue and brown. Cover design by Milton Glaser.

Price: $1.25. Number of copies unknown. Published 10 February 1958.

Notes: This edition is Vintage Book K-56. Paper impressions: 2nd, February 1959; 3rd, March 1960, 4th, December 1961. Also issued c. 1966 in reinforced brown buckram binding stamped in gold and black, without dust-jacket.

A61f. Third English edition ([1961]):

Collation: [A]16 B–Q16 , 256 leaves.

Remainder differs from A61d as follows: pp. 17–492 text; pp. 493–511 INDEX; p.[512]blank.

21.0 × 13.4 cm. Bulk: 1.9 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in paper covers printed in blue, brown and black.

Price: 12s.6d. Number of copies: 10,000. Published in March 1961.

Contents: As A61d, with the addition of Chapter XXVII (Postscript 1960); ‘In Dedication’ has 22 lines.

Notes: There are omissions as well as additions throughout the text; the revisions of A61d are retained.

Impressions: 2nd, March 1963 (8,000 copies); 3rd, 1967 (8,000 copies); 4th, 1970 (8,000 copies); 5th, March 1975 (8,080 copies); 6th, October 1977 (10,096 copies); 7th, December 1981 (5,975 copies); 8th, June 1984 (7,383 copies); 9th, 1986; 10th, 1988; 11th, 1990; covers vary. There were at least five further impressions up to the mid to late 1990s.

There was also a hardbound impression in 1971 (2,000 copies).

Farrar, Straus, Giroux issued an American photographic impression in 1966. The first impression was published simutaneouly in rust coloured cloth stamped in black at $5.95 and with paper covers printed in yellow, brown and black at $2.25, as number N295 under FSG’s Noonday Press imprint.

Impressions: 2nd, 1969; 3rd, 1969; 4th, 1970; 5th, 1972; 6th, 1973; 7th, 1974; 8th, 1975; 9th and 10th, 1976; 11th, 1978; 12th, 1979; 13th, 1980; 14th, 1981; 15th (paper and hardcover). 1982; 16th, (paper and hardcover), 1983; 17th, 1984; 18th, 1985; 19th, 1986; 20th, 1987; 21st, 1988; 22nd, 1988; 23rd, 1989; 24th, 1990; 25th, 1991; 26th, 1992; 27th, 1993; 28th, 1994; 29th, 1995; 30th, 1996; 31st, 1997; 32nd, 1997; 33rd, 1999; 34th, 1999; 35th, 2000; 36th, 2001. Covers vary.

Cloth-bound impressions under FSG’s Octagon Books imprint were issued in 1972 and 1976.

A61g. Fourth English edition [1997]:

Collation: [1]-[17]16, 272 leaves.

p. [i] ROBERT GRAVES | The White Goddess | A Historical Grammar | of Poetic Myth; p. [ii] publisher’s list of Robert Graves Programme titles; p.[iii] title-page; p. [iv] edition, publisher’s, copyright, CIP, sponsorship and printer’s notices; p.[v] CONTENTS; p.[vi] blank; pp. [vii]viii-xxiv EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION; p.[1] [cut of the Triple Goddess]; p.[2] blank; p. [3] IN DEDICATION [verse]; p.[4] blank; p.[5]6-11 FOREWORD; p.[12] blank; pp. [13]-14-483 text and diagrams, with pp. [23, 44, 56, 70, 93, 108, 118, 135, 160, 184, 200, 217, 238, 251, 264, 293, 305, 333, 340, 355, 374, 400, 413, 433, 465, 479] unnumbered; p. [484] blank; pp. [485]486-488 Appendix A | TWO LETTERS TO THE PRESS; pp. [487]488-504 Appendix B | THE WHITE GODDESS | A Talk for the Y.M.H.A. Centre, New York, February 9, 1957; pp. [505]506-520 INDEX.

21.5 × 13.5 cm. Bulk: 3.5/4.1 cm. White wove endpapers printed in pale fawn with a repeated motif in white: [within a cartouche:] Robert | Graves; all edges trimmed. Bound in black simulated cloth; front and back blank; stamped in gold down the spine: Robert Graves | THE WHITE GODDESS | Edited by Grevel Lindop | [across spine, at foot:] CARCANET

Price: £35.00. Number of copies undetermined. Published 30 October 1997 in cream dust-jacket printed in black and grey. Dust-jacket designed by Stephen Raw.

Notes: This edition incorporates major corrections to the text, Graves's final revisions, as well as his replies to the book's reviewers and his own account of the months of inspiration in which The White Goddess was written.

Faber and Faber issued a photographic reprint in paper covers on 23 August 1999 at £14.99. By 2017 there had been five further impressions.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux issued a photographic reprint in paper covers on 8 October 2013 at $18.00. By 2017 there had been four further impressions.

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