Book Collecting

E. M. Forster – First Edition Books: Identification Guide

E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster OM CH (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English fiction writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examine class difference and hypocrisy, including A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). The last brought him his greatest success. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 separate years.

Forster had five novels published in his lifetime. Although Maurice was published shortly after his death, it had been written nearly sixty years earlier. He never finished a seventh novel, Arctic Summer.

His first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), is the story of Lilia, a young English widow who falls in love with an Italian, and of the efforts of her bourgeois relatives to get her back from Monteriano (based on San Gimignano). Philip Herriton’s mission to retrieve her from Italy has features in common with that of Lambert Strether in Henry James’s The Ambassadors. Forster discussed that work ironically and somewhat disapprovingly in his book Aspects of the Novel (1927).

Forster achieved his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924). The novel takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj. Forster connects personal relationships with the politics of colonialism through the story of the Englishwoman Adela Quested, the Indian Dr. Aziz, and the question of what did or did not happen between them in the Marabar Caves. Forster makes special mention of the author Ahmed Ali and his Twilight in Delhi in his Preface to its Everyman’s Library Edition.

E. M. Forster was awarded a Benson Medal in 1937. In the 1930s and 1940s Forster became a notable broadcaster on BBC Radio, and while George Orwell was the BBC India Section talks producer from 1941 to 1943, he commissioned from Forster a weekly book review. Forster became publicly associated with the British Humanist Association. In addition to his broadcasting, he advocated individual liberty and penal reform and opposed censorship by writing articles, sitting on committees and signing letters.

E. M. Forster – First Editions Identification Guide

How to Identify First Edition books by E. M. Forster
YearTitlePublisherFirst edition/printing identification points
1905Where Angels Fear to TreadWilliam Blackwood & Sons, London, MCMVSlate-blue cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dust jacket (6s). 1050 copies printed. Publisher’s advertisements, inserted at the end. There are three states of advertisements, probable priority:
  • (A) p. [1] Third Impression of The Edge of Circumstance, by Edward Noble announced—p. [3] at foot, Matriculation Roll of St Andrews University, edited by J. Maitland Anderson announced as in the press—p. 12 no work by E. M. Forster listed—p. 32 at foot, dated: 5/05.
  • (B) p. [1] entitled Catalogue of Messrs Blackwood & Sons’ Publications —p. [3] at foot, Matriculation Roll of St Andrews University advertised at 18s.—p. 12 Where Angels Fear to Tread advertised at 6s.—p. 32 at foot, dated 5/05.
  • (C) As above, except for p. 32, which is dated at foot: 10/05. Points 1874-1930, by Percy H. Muir, London, Constable, 1931, p. 114 notes two ‘issues’. Notes: There was a second impression of 526 copies in January 1906.ALSO: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1920. First American edition. Orange cloth boards; lettered in black on spine. Dust jacket ($2).
1907The Longest JourneyWilliam Blackwood & Sons, London, MCMVIIDark green cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dark green cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Powder-blue dustjacket printed in pale navy-blue (6s) 1587 copies printed.
Notes: There was a second impression of 525 copies in June 1907.
ALSO: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. First American edition. Orange cloth boards; lettered in black on spine. Dust jacket ($2.50). 2100 copies printed. "Published, March, 1922" stated on © page.
1908A Room with a ViewLondon: Edward Arnold & Co., 1908Dark red cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dark rose-pink dust-jacket, printed in black (6s). 2000 copies printed. Notes: There was a second impression of 500 copies in January 1909 and probably a third in 1911.
ALSO: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1911. First American edition. Brown-pink cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dust jacket ($1.35). 2027 copies printed.
1910Howards EndLondon: Edward Arnold & Co., 1910Dull red cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dust jacket (6s). 2500 copies printed. Two issues, priority as listed:
  • (A) Advertisements at the end, on p. [348] A Stepson of the Soil, by Mary J. H. Skrine which was published on 7 March 1910.
  • (B) p. 3 of the advertisements at the end lists the second impression of A Stepson of the Soil which was issued in June 1910. Notes: There were further impressions of 1000, 3000, and 2500 copies in November 1910, and 1000 in December 1910 (issued in 1911).
ALSO: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1910. First American edition. Maroon cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Dust jacket ($1.35). 1500 copies printed. Published in January 1911. "copyright, 1910 | by | G. P. Putnam’s Sons" stated on © page. Two issues, priority as listed:
  • (A) 6 pages of advertisements at the end.
  • (B) 10 pp. of advertisement at the end. Title in gold on the cover.
  • Notes: There were further printings of 1004 copies in January, 1020 in February, and 998 in March 1911.
1911The Celestial OmnibusLondon: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd., 1911Pale brown cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine (3s/6d).. 1000 copies printed.
Notes: There was a second impression of 500 copies in February 1912; lettered in black on spine and on upper cover
1920The Story of the SirenThe Hogarth Press, 1920White thin paper wrappers marbled either in bright blue or in green, pale grey and orange with edges turned under (2s/6d). 500 copies printed. Three states, priority as listed:
  • (A) Label edge in dull gold, printed in black : "THE STORY OF THE | SIREN | E. M. FORSTER"
  • (B) Label edge in dull gold, printed in black : "THE STORY | OF THE SIREN | E. M. FORSTER"
  • (C) Plain label, printed in black: "THE STORY OF THE SIREN | E. M. FORSTER"
1922AlexandriaAlexandria: Whitehead Morris, 1922Buff paper boards; printed in pale navy-blue up the spine (7s/6d).
Notes: In some copies the plan facing p. 144 is incorrectly placed to face p. 44.
1924A Passage to IndiaLondon: Edward Arnold & Co., 1924Two issues, no priority:
  • (A) Limited edition of 200 copies. Fawn paper boards, donkey-brown cloth spine. Grey slipcase, pale grey label on spine (£2/2s).
  • (B) Dark red cloth boards; lettered in black on spine. Champagne dust-jacket printed in rose (7s/6d). 5000 copies printed.
  • Notes: There were further printings of 3000 copies in June and July 1924, 2000 in August, October and December 1924, and 1000 in May 1925.
ALSO: New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., [1924-. First American edition. Black cloth boards; lettered in pale primrose on spine. ale green dust-jacket printed in black, terra-cotta, and green ($2.50). 4,000 copies printed. The font 'f' in "Author of"' on the title page is broken.
Notes: There were further printings in 1924 of 2625 copies in August, 2500 and 3000 in September, 3000 and 4275 in October, 5000 in November, 3000, 2000 and 5325 in December, in 1925 of 2500 and 5000 in February and 2000 in July.
1928The Eternal MomentLondon: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd., 1928Maroon cloth boards; lettered in gold on spine. Pale grey dust-jacket printed in black (5s). 3720 copies printed. "First Impression of this Collection, March 1928" stated on © page.
ALSO: New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., [1928]. First American edition. Oxford-blue cloth boards; dull yellow printed label on spine. Dust jacket (2.50). 2,000 copies printed. "copyright, 1928, by | Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc." stated on © page.
Notes: There was a further printing of 1000 copies in July 1928.

E. M. Forster – First Printing Dust Jackets Identification Guide

Gallery of First state Dust Jackets of Forster’s works. Only includes the first appearance in book form. Either the UK or US edition and does not include later printings.

Reference:

  • Wikipedia
  • B. J. Kirkpatrick: A Bibliography of E. M. Forster

BOOKSTORE: Rare, Antiquarian, First editions, Illustrated Children's Books

Related Posts

Scroll to Top
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap