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

A66 THE GOLDEN ASS [1950]

a. First edition:

Collation: [A]8 B–K16 L8, 152 leaves.

pp.[1]–[2] blank; p.[3] THE PENGUIN CLASSICS | EDITED BY H. V. RIEU | L11| [publisher’s emblem]; p.[4] blank; p.[5] title-page; p.[6] publication, publisher’s and printer’s notices; p.[7] CONTENTS; p.[8] blank; pp.[9] 10–21 INTRODUCTION; p.[22] blank; p.[23] THE | TRANSFORMATIONS OF LUCIUS | OTHERWISE KNOWN AS | THE GOLDEN ASS | [star]; p.[24] blank; p.[25] Apuleius’s Address to the Reader; p.[26] blank; pp.[27] 28–293 text, with pp.[42, 61, 73, 88, 99, 114, 124, 138, 158, 175, 193, 212, 228, 239, 249, 262, 274, 288] being unnumbered; p.[294] blank; pp.[295] 296–298 APPENDIX; pp.[299]–[302] publisher’s advertisements; pp. [303]–[304] blank.

18.0 × 11.1 cm. Bulk: 1.2 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in paper covers; front cover: [solid rectangular purple border, inside which:] [rectangular decorative rule border, inside which:] APULEIUS | THE | GOLDEN ASS | [roundel of Cupid and Psyche] | A NEW TRANSLATION BY | ROBERT GRAVES | [swelled purple rule] | THE PENGUIN | CLASSICS | [overprinted in lower left corner of border:] 1/6; back cover: solid and decorative borders as front, inside which are publisher’s advertisements; spine: [purple band] | [decorative band] | [up spine:] THE GOLDEN ASS | [publisher’s emblem] | [up spine:] APULEIUS | [purple band, inside which:] L11; inner sides of both covers blank.

This is Penguin Book L11.

Price: 1s.6d. Number of copies unknown. Published in April 1950.

Notes: Impressions: 2nd. 1950; 3rd 1951; 4th 1954; 5th 1956; 6th 1958; 7th 1960; 8th 1964 (new cover design showing a detail from a Greco-Roman fresco in the Louvre); 9th 1969.

This book was also issued hardbound (two printings in 1950); it differs as follows: 18.0 × 10.8 cm. Bulk: 1.4/1.9 cm. White wove endpapers. Bound in bright red cloth; front and back blank. Spine stamped in gold: [rule] | [design of decorative rule, 14 rules forming an oval with a star inside and decorative rule] | APULEIUS | [dash] | The Golden | Ass | [series of 3 designs (4 decorative rules only) as above] | [publisher’s emblem] | design as at top] | [rule]. Price: 7s.6d. Number of copies unknown. Published in 1950 in cream dust-jacket printed in red and grey. The hardbound edition was also reissued in 1956.

This book has been translated into Swedish.

A66b. Limited issue (1951):

Collation: [A]8 B–S8 T7, 151 leaves.

19.2 × 11.3 cm. Bulk: 1.5/1.9 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed; top edges gilt. Heavy grey laid endpapers watermarked: Charles I. Bound in marbled boards with parchment spine stamped in gold: The | Golden | Ass | [heavy rule] | |light rule].

Price: 30s. Number of copies: 2,000. Published in December 1951 in buff dust-jacket printed in black; boxed; box printed in red and black.

Notes: p.299 is a cancel and Mason/1978 reports an uncancelled trial state of this page from his collection, now at the University of Tulsa.

Copies offered for sale in the U. S. have pasted on the front of the box a red label printed in black: Limited Edition | Signed by Robert Graves | Price $6.50 | PENGUIN BOOKS | BALTIMORE ∙ MARYLAND

On the closed end of the box there is pasted a red label printed in black: Signed | Limited | Edition | $6.50

Reference: Antin.

A66c. First American edition ([1951]):

Collation: [1]–[10]l6, 160 leaves.

2 pp. blank; p.[i] [flush right:] THE GOLDEN ASS; p.[ii] [flush left:] list of books by Graves; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] copyright, manufacturer’s and designer’s notices and publisher’s emblem; p.[v] [flush right:] CONTENTS; p.[vi] blank; p.[vii] [flush right:] APULEIUS’S ADDRESS TO THE READER; p.[viii] blank; pp. xi–xxii [flush right:] INTRODUCTION; p.[1] [flush right:] THE GOLDEN ASS; p.[2] blank; pp.3–288 text; pp.289–293 APPENDIX; pp.[294]–[296] blank.

Price: $3.50. Number of copies unknown. Published 11 September 1951 in white dust-jacket printed in brown and gold.

Note: This book was designed by Stefan Salter.

A66d. Second American edition ([1952]):

Collation: 144 leaves, glued at spine.

p.[i] quotations from reviews; p.[ii] list of books by Graves; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] publication, publisher’s, copyright and acknowledgement notices; p.[v] CONTENTS; p.[vi] APULEIUS’S ADDRESS TO THE READER; pp.vii–xix INTRODUCTION; p.[xx] blank; p.[1] [decorative rule] THE GOLDEN ASS; p.[2] blank; pp.3–259 text; p.[260] blank; pp.261–264 APPENDIX; pp.[265]–[267] publisher’s advertisements; p.[268] blank.

16.3 × 10.6 cm. Bulk: 1.5 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in white paper covers printed in gold, black, blue and red.

Price: $0.35. Number of copies: 150,753. Published in September 1952.

Notes: Impressions: 2nd, January 1953, 48,715 copies.

This is Cardinal Book C62.

This book was also issued in a Pocket Library impression which differs as follows: lacks first line of title-page; final line: THE POCKET LIBRARY | [publisher’s emblem]; covers printed in grey, blue, gold and black; all edges plain. Published in May 1954, with four printings subsequently, for a total of five printings of 126,129 copies. This is Pocket Library book LP 6. In the second through fifth impressions all edges are stained gold.

A66e. Second English edition (1960):

Collation: [A]8B–N8, 154 leaves.

[plate, back blank, facing title-page]; p.[1] title-page; p. [2] acknowledgement, printer’s and binder’s notices; p.[3] CONTENTS; p.[4] ILLUSTRATIONS; pp.5–13 INTRODUCTION; p.[14] blank; p.[15] THE | TRANSFORMATIONS OF LUCIUS | OTHERWISE KNOWN AS | THE GOLDEN ASS; p.[16] blank; p.[17] APULEIUS’S ADDRESS TO | THE READER; p.[18] blank; pp.19–208 text, with plates facing pp.49, 64, 76, 97, 112, 141, 180, 195.

24.6 × 15.3 cm. Bulk: 1.5/2.1 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed; top edge stained brown. White wove illustrated endpapers, inner sides blank. Bound in parchment with front and back stamped at top and bottom with brown illustrative bands; spine stamped in gold: APULEIUS | The | Golden | Ass | GRAVES [elongated figure of ass] | The | Folio | Society

Price: 22s.6d. Number of copies undisclosed. Published in January 1960 without dust-jacket in blank marbled-effect grey-green box.

Note: There was a limited issue of 75 numbered copies, signed by the illustrator Michael Ayrton, bound in brown morocco, blocked in gold and blind with the same design as the standard binding. An extra colophon leaf was printed, stating that 250 copies were specially-bound in full brown morocco. Owing to a disappointing response by subscribers only 75 copies were actually bound up and issued in this form.

References: Nash, p. [105] and [Folio 21], p. 127.

A66f. Second American impression ([1966]):

Collation: [1]–[10]16, 160 leaves.

pp.[i]–[ii] blank; p.[iii] The Golden Ass; p.[iv] blank; p.[v] title-page; p.[vi] copyright, rights reservation, LC card and printing notices; p.[vii] Contents; p.[viii] blank; p.[ix] Apuleius’s Address to the Reader; p.[x] blank; pp.xi–xxii Introduction; p.[1] The Golden Ass; p.[2] blank; pp.3–293 text; pp.[294] – [296] blank.

20.3 × 13.6 cm. Bulk: 2.1/2.7 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. White wove endpapers. Bound in black cloth; front and back blank; spine stamped in gold, top to bottom, facing back: THE GOLDEN ASS | [under title:] ROBERT GRAVES [remainder upright on spine:] [publisher’s emblem] | Farrar | Straus | Giroux

Price: $4.75. Number of copies: 1,000. Published in November 1966 in white dust-jacket printed in yellow and black.

Notes: Impressions. The first twenty impressions were in the Noonday Press series (N305) and bound in white paper covers printed in yellow and black: 1st, 1967; 2nd, April 1967 (4,000 copies); 3rd, January 1969 [dated 1968], (2,000 copies); 4th, September 1969 (2,000 copies); 5th, February 1970 (3,500 copies); 6th, October 1970 (5,000 copies); 7th, October 1971 (5,000 copies); 8th, 1972; 9th, 1973; 10th, 1974; 11th, 1975; 12th1976; 13th, 1977; 14th, 1978; 15th, 1979; 16th, 1981; 17th, 1982; 18th, 1983 (also issued in hardcover); 19th. 1984; 20th, 1986. The twenty-first through thirty-second impressions dropped the N305 designation, but continued in the same cover style. 21st, 1986; 22nd, 1987; 23rd, 1988; 24th, 1989; 25th, 1990; 26th, 1991; 27th, 1992; 28th, 1993; 29th, 1995; 30th, 1995; 31st, 1996; 32nd, 1997. The thirty-third (1998) and thirty-fourth (2000) impressions were in redesigned covers with cover illustration by Jean de Bosschère. The thirty-fifth impression was published 31 March 2009 in covers designed by Aaron Artessa. There were seven further impressions in this style of covers up to 2017.

A66f now combines A66f and A66g from the second edition of this bibliography. .

A66g. Third English edition ([1972]):

Collation: 128 leaves, glued at the spine.

p.[1] THE PENGUIN CLASSICS | FOUNDER EDITOR (1944–64): E. V. RIEU | Editor: Betty Radice | [blurb]; p.[2] blank; p.[3] title-page; p.[4] publisher’s, imprintings, copyright, printer’s and rights reservations notices; p.[5] CONTENTS; p.[6] blank; pp.[7] 8–17 INTRODUCTION; p.[18] blank; p.[19] THE | TRANSFORMATIONS OF LUCIUS | OTHERWISE KNOWN AS | THE GOLDEN ASS; p.[20] blank; p.[21] Apuleius’s Address to the Reader, p. [22] blank; pp.[23] 24–247 text, with pp.[36, 52, 63, 75, 84, 97,105, 117, 134, 148, 163, 179, 192, 201, 210, 221, 231, 243] being unnumbered; p.[248] blank; pp.[249] 250–252 APPENDIX; p. [253] publisher’s advertisement; p.[254] blank; pp.[255]–[256] publisher’s advertisements.

18.1 × 11.0 cm. Bulk: 1.4 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in paper covers, inner sides blank, outer sides black printed in white; front cover shows a detail from a Greco-Roman fresco in the Louvre.

Price: 80p. Number of copies: 10,000. Published in 1972.

Notes: Impressions: 2nd, 1976; 3rd, 1980 (copies: 10,000); 4th, 1984 (copies: 5,000); 5th, 1985 (copies: 4,000); 6th, 1986; 7th, 1988, covers vary.

A66h in the second edition of this bibliography here becomes A66g.

A66g.1. Fourth English edition (revised) ([1990]):

Collation: 128 leaves, glued at the spine.

p. [i]-[ii] blurbs; p. [iii] title-page; p. [iv] publisher’s, copyright, and printer’s notices; p. [v] CONTENTS; p. [vi] blank; pp. [vii]-viii-xviii INTRODUCTION; p. [xix] blank; pp. xx-xxvi maps; p. [1] THE | TRANSFORMATIONS OF LUCIUS |

OTHERWISE KNOWN AS | THE GOLDEN ASS; p. [2] blank; p. [3] APULEIUS’ ADDRESS TO THE READER; p. [4] blank; pp. 5-200 text; pp. 201-211 NOTES; p. pp. 212-213 SOME BOOKS; p. [214] blank; pp. 215-220 INDEX; pp. [221]- [230] publisher’s advertisements, with p. [222] blank.

19.7 × 13.0 cm. Bulk: 1.6 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in paper covers, inner sides blank, outer sides printed in cream, black and purple; front has a detail from Eros and Psyche, a third-century mosaic from Samandag in the Hatay Museum, Antioch.

Price: Undetermined. Number of copies undetermined. Published 22 November 1990.

Notes: Here, Robert Graves’s 1950 translation has been substantially revised by Michael Grant who has written a new introduction, bibliography, explanatory notes and maps.

There were at least three further impressions.

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