A65 OCCUPATION: WRITER 1950
a. First edition:
ROBERT GRAVES | [decorative rule] | Occupation: Writer | [decorative rule] CREATIVE AGE PRESS | NEW YORK: 1950
Collation: [1]–[9]16[10]8[11]16, 168 leaves.
p.[i] [decorative rule] | Occupation: Writer | [decorative rule]; p.[ii] list of books by Graves; p.[iii] title-page; p. [iv] copyright notice; pp.v–viii Introduction p.ix Contents; p.[x] blank; p.[xi] [decorative rule] | Occupation: Writer | [decorative rule]; p.[xii] blank; pp. 1–320 text; pp.[321] –[324] blank.
20.3 × 13.2 cm. Bulk: 2.5/3.2 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. White wove endpapers. Bound in buff cloth; front and back blank; brown quarter cloth spine stamped in gold: ROBERT | GRAVES | [facing back:] OCCUPATION: WRITER | CREATIVE | AGE
Price: $4.00. Number of copies unknown. Published 23 February 1950 in white dust-jacket printed in brown and black. Jacket design by Irving Werbin.
Contents: Introduction – Lars Porsena – Mrs. Fisher – The Shout – Avocado Pears – Old Papa Johnson – Interview with a Dead Man – Thames-Side Reverie – -Ess – Charity Appeals – But It Still Goes On: a Play – The Cult of Tolerance – Horses: a Play – Colonel Blimp’s Ancestors – The Search for Thomas Atkins – It Was a Stable World – Caenis on Incest – ‘Esta En Su Casa’ – How Mad are Hatters? – Pharaoh’s Chariot Wheels – Dead Man’s Bottles – Occupation: Writer.
Note: Octagon Books, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, issued a photographic reprint in green cloth stamped in gold on front and spine; issued without dust-jacket.
A65b. First English edition (1951):
Occupation: | WRITER | [centred decorative rule with sunburst] | ROBERT GRAVES | [publisher’s emblem] | MCMLI | CASSELL & CO. LTD | LONDON
Collation: [A]6 B–Q8 R/R*2/8 S8, 144 leaves.
pp.[i] – [ii] blank; p.[iii] OCCUPATION: WRITER; p.[iv] list of books by Graves; p.[v] title-page; p.[vi] publisher’s, publication and printer’s notices; p.vii
CONTENTS; p.[viii] blank; pp.ix–xi INTRODUCTION; p.[xii] blank; pp.1–276 text, with pp.[102, 174] being blank and p.[221] being a genealogical table.
21.5 × 13.8 cm. Bulk: 2.1/2.7 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed; top edges stained grey. Bound in wine-brown cloth; front and back blank; spine stamped in gold: [five lines in a rectangular decorative rule box:] Occupation: | WRITER | [star] | ROBERT | GRAVES | CASSELL
Price: 12s.6d. Number of copies: 7,500. Published 27 September 1951 in cream dust-jacket printed in maroon and purple-grey.
Notes: ‘Dead Man’s Bottles’ of the American edition is here called ‘Bins K to T.’ Copies for overseas sales were issued in a modified dust-jacket with ‘Overseas Edition’ printed on the front flap below the price.
A photographic reprint was issued in 1974 by Cedric Chivers, Portway, Bath, ‘at the request of the London and Home Counties Library Association.’ It is identical save for title-page and verso and a blurb on p.[iii].
A65c. Second American impression ([1951]):
ROBERT GRAVES | Occupation: Writer | The Universal Library | GROSSET & DUNLAP | NEW YORK | [publisher’s emblem faces last three lines]
Collation as A65a.
p.[i] biographical note; p.[ii] blank; p.[iii] title-page; pp. [iv]–[x] as A65a; p.[xi] OCCUPATION WRITER; p.[xii] blank; pp. 1–320 text; p.[321] publisher’s advertisements; pp.[322]–[324] blank.
20.3 × 13.7 cm. Bulk: 2.1 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in paper covers printed in yellow-orange, black, purple, red and taupe; black-and-white photo of Graves on front cover; inner sides blank.
Price: $1.25. Number of copies undisclosed. Published in 1951.
Notes: This impression is Universal Library U-53. The publisher’s advertisements on p. [321] list Universal Library titles UL-1 through UL-60.
Second or later impression: White paper covers printed in green, black, purple, red and blue; black-and-white photo of Graves on front cover. The inner front and rear covers are printed in a floral pattern in light and dark grey. Price: $1.45.
The publisher’s advertisements on p. [321] list Universal Library titles UL-2 through UL-104, omitting UL-12 and UL-16.