Ripostes (1912)
A8
Editions
a. First edition, first issue
RIPOSTES | OF | EZRA POUND | WHERETO ARE APPENDED | THE COMPLETE POETICAL | WORKS OF | T. E. HULME | WITH PREFATORY NOTE | | MCMxXI1 | STEPHEN SWIFT AND CO., LTD. | 16 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN | LONDON 63, , 31, pp. 19.8 X 134 cm. Streaky grey cloth boards stamped in gold on front cover, end-papers; edges untrimmed. Grey-blue dust-jacket printed in dark blue. 14 Published October 1912 at 3s. 6d.; an unknown number of sets of sheets printed (of which an undetermined quantity—not more than 500—were issued by Elkin Mathews as part of Canzoni & Ripostes (1913)—A7b; an unknown number were used for the American issue in 1913; and 4oo were issued by Elkin Mathews in 1915). Imprint on page [64]: Printed by Neill and Co., Ltd., Edinburgh. Dedication on page [5]: To William Carlos Williams All examined copies have the misprint in the list of Ezra Pound’s books on page [2], “PERSONAL” for “PERSONAE,” which was not corrected in the later issues of the sheets. Contents: Silet-—In exitum cuiusdam—Apparuit—The Tomb at Akr Caar—Portrait d’une femme—N[ew]. Y[ork]—A Girl—“Phasellus ille’-—An Object— Quies—The Seafarer (from the early Anglo-Saxon Text)—Echoes I, II—An Immorality—Dieu! Qu’il la fait, from Charles D’Orleans—Salve Pontifex (A. C. S.)—Aa@era—The Needle—Sub mare—Plunge—A Virginal—Pan Is Dead—The Picture—Of Jacopo del Sellaio—The Return—Effects of Music upon a Company of People: I. Deux Movements [sic]; II. From a Thing by Schumann—The Complete Poetical Works of T. E. Hulme (“Prefatory Note,” signed: E. P,; “Autumn”; “Mana Aboda”; “Above the Dock”; “The Embankment”; “Conversion”) Publisher’s advertisements, “Books That Compel,” 31, pages following page [64], are inserted. (These have been cut out in some presentation copies, distributed after the failure of the publisher.) Notes: Stephen Swift and Co. Ltd. had agreed to publish Ezra Pound’s future books, giving him £100 per year advance royalties for a period of ten years. The first book to appear under this agreement was the English edition of the Sonnets and Ballate of Guido Cavalcanti—B4b—in May 1912, and the second was Ripostes in October. But Ripostes had been out only a few weeks when Ezra Pound wrote to his parents on 5 November 1912: “‘Swift’ is busted. They caught the manager in Tangier with some of the goods.” On 29 November he was able to report to his mother that he was “getting satisfactory terms out of Swift’s liquidator.” Elkin Mathews agreed to take over all bound copies and sheets of Ripostes (subsequently re-issuing the sheets as indicated below). He sold bound copies of the Swift edition of Sonnets and Ballate of Guido Cavalcanti, apparently as agent for the translator, during 1913, 1914, and 1915; then a frre, presumably at the binders, where the sheets were being held, effectively settled the problem of their disposition. All the poems in Ripostes were reprinted in Collected Early Poems ([1976])—Ao98.
b. Second issue, with Canzoni (1913)
For description see above under Canzon: (1911)—A7b.
c. Third (American) issue (1913)
RIPOSTES | OF | EZRA POUND | WHERETO ARE APPENDED THE COMPLETE POETICAL | WORKS OF | T. E. HULME | WITH 15 PREFATORY NOTE | | BOSTON | SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY | PUBLISHERS | 1913 63, pp. 19.4 X 13-3 cm. Red paper boards lettered in black on front cover and up the spine; end-papers; fore and bottom edges untrimmed. Published July 1913 at $1.00; number of copies unknown. These are the firstedition sheets with the original title-leaf excised and a cancel title-leaf—on thinner paper-—(with title-page as above) pasted to its stub.
d. Fourth issue (1915)
RIPOSTES | OF | EZRA POUND | WHERETO ARE APPENDED THE | COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF | T. E. HULME | WITH PREFATORY NOTE | | LONDON | ELKIN MATHEWS, CORK STREET | MCMXV , 63, pp., 1 leaf. 19:1 X 13.3 cm. Heavy off-white paper wrappers, printed in black on page [i] with cubist design (by Dorothy Shakespear Pound), and on page [iv] with imprint, folded over end-papers; fore and bottom edges untrimmed. Published April 1915 at 1.3 400 copies issued. These are the first-edition sheets with the original title-leaf excised and a cancel title-leaf (with title-page as above) pasted to its stub. Publisher’s advertisement headed: “Ezra Pound’s New Book [ze. Cachay],” 1 leaf following page [64], is inserted. Note: The wrappers, the cancel title-leaf, and the advertisement leaf were printed by the Chiswick Press.
Content is now editable.