Black Spring

A12a 1936 FIRST OBELISK EDITION

Semi-stiff beige and reddish-brown wrappers with drawing of man chained to wheel
Published in June 1936, at 50 francs, in an edition of 1,000 copies.

A12b 1938 SECOND OBELISK EDITION

Semi-stiff black wrappers
Published in October 1938, at 60 francs, in an edition of 1,000 copies.

A12c 1938 VARIANT SECOND EDITION

Green leather boards
Published in October 1938.
Note: A privately rebound Second Edition.

A12d 1939 FIRST SHANGHAI EDITION

Green buckram boards
Published in 1939.
Note: In 1940, Lee H. Watkins obtained obtained pirated copies of Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, and Tropic of Capricorn. All were printed in Shanghai and smuggled into the U.S. by a friend in the merchant marine. This edition of Black Spring was originally issued in orange wrappers but had been rebound by Mr. Watkins. The Shanghai piracies were produced by photo-offset from Obelisk Press editions.

A12e 1945 THIRD OBELISK EDITION

Steel-gray wrappers
Published in 1945, at 175 francs.
Note: This first post-war edition of Black Spring published by the Obelisk Press, uses plates from the 1938 Edition. This edition is cheaply printed on a poor quality paper which is now heavily browned. Variation in leaf size is evident from page to page with dimensions ranging from 7 1/2 to 7 3/4 inches. Because plates from the October 1938 edition were used for this printing, the copyright page reads: "First published June 1936 / Reprinted October 1938 / PRINTED IN FRANCE" causing it to be confused with the Second Printing from Obelisk Press.

A12f 1954 FIRST KEIMEISHA EDITION

Red cloth boards. Black dust jacket with red sunburst.
Published on January 30, 1954, at Ľ1000, in an edition of 1,000 copies.

A12g 1954 FOURTH OBELISK EDITION

White wrappers
Published in May 1954, at 525 francs.

A12h 1954 SECOND KEIMEISHA EDITION

Red cloth board. Tan dustjacket.
Published on December 31, 1954, at Ľ1000.

A12i 1956 THIRD KEIMEISHA EDITION

Red cloth boards.
Published on March 25, 1956, at Ľ700.
Note: This Third Keimeisha edition differs from their previous editions by the reduced price listed on the colophon (Ľ700 vs. Ľ1000). Without the tipped in colophon present, it appears indistinguishable from the First and Second Keimeisha Editions.

A12j 1958 FIFTH OBELISK EDITION

White wrappers with green scribbled design
Published in the fourth trimester of 1958, at 630 francs.

A12k 1959 TAIWAN PIRACY

Cream-yellow wrappers flecked with green fibers
Note: This pirated edition was produced by photo-offset from the 1958 Obelisk Press Edition. It uses thinner paper and has a total thickness of 1/2 inch compared with Obelisk's 11/16 inch. The overall dimensions of the book are also slightly reduced. This book appears to be a Taiwan piracy, as are three other books described in this bibliography which have the same flecked green wrappers, Tropic of Cancer [A9nn], Tropic of Capricorn [A21t], and The World of Sex [A25u]. It is believed that all were published in 1959.

A12l 1960 FIRST KEIMEISHA PAPERBACK EDITION

White wrappers
Published on July 30, 1960, at Ľ700.

A12m 1960 SIXTH OBELISK EDITION

White wrappers with green scribble design
Published in the last trimester of 1960.

A12n 1960 SEVENTH OBELISK EDITION

Soft white wrappers
Published in the last trimester of 1960, at 9,50 N.F.

A12o 1961 SECOND KEIMEISHA PAPERBACK EDITION

White wrappers
Published on July 20, 1961, at Ľ700.

A12p 1963 FIRST GROVE EDITION

Gray and black marbled paper boards
Published on April 4, 1963, at $5.00.

A12q 1963 BOOKTHRIFT EDITION

Black textured vinyl boards
Published in 1963.

A12r 1964 FIRST BLACK CAT EDITION

Purple wrappers
1st Printing: Published on 6-18-64 at 95( in an edition of 75,475 copies.
2nd Printing: Published on 7-31-64 at 95( in an edition of 24,795 copies.
1st Canadian: Published on 8-18-64 at 95( in an edition of 9,870 copies.
3rd Printing: Published on 8-19-64 at 95( in an edition of 25,345 copies.
4th Printing: Published on 10-13-64 at 95( in an edition of 25,242 copies.
5th Printing: Published on 4-26-65 at 95( in an edition of 24,125 copies.
6th Printing: Published on 7-23-65 at 95( in an edition of 24,510 copies.
7th Printing: Published on 2-28-66 at 95( in an edition of 23,980 copies.
8th Printing: Published on 5-22-67 at 95( in an edition of 14,973 copies.
Note: All Printings have a wool red stain on all edges of the pages. The Canadian edition has a "C" and "Printed in U.S.A." on back of the wrapper.

A12s 1965 FIRST JOHN CALDER EDITION

Bright yellow cloth boards
Published in 1965, at 25 shillings.

A12t 1968 CALDER AND BOYARS EDITION

White wrappers with large photograph of Miller.
Published in July 1968, at 8 shillings, 6 pence.

A12z 1969 SECOND GROVE WRAPPER DESIGN

White wrappers
9th Printing: Published in 1969, at 95(. 11th Printing: Published in January 1974, at $1.95.
12th Printing: Published in July 1976, at $1.95.
10th Printing: Published in April 1978, at an unknown price.
Note: It is not known why the 10th Printing in white wrappers, also noted above, is out of sequence by date. It is possible that unsold copies of the Zebra Edition were rebound. The 12th Printing noted above in white wrappers, has also been seen in blue wrappers [A12bb].

A12u 1970 CASTLE BOOKS EDITION

Tan paper covered boards
Published 1970, at $5.00.

A12v 1971 ZEBRA PAPERBACK PRINTING

White pictorial wrappers
Published in 1971, at $1.25.

A12w 1973 LITERARY GUILD BOOK CLUB EDITION

Black natural finish cloth boards
Published in April 1973.

A12x 1973 BOOK CLUB EDITION

Gray leather grained paper boards
Published in 1973.

A12y 1973 INTERNATIONAL COLLECTORS EDITION

Dark blue leather grained paper boards
Published in 1973.

A12aa 1974 FIRST PANTHER EDITION

Black wrappers with large circle, 3/4 yellow, 1/4 black.
Published in 1974.

A12bb 1978 FOURTH GROVE WRAPPER DESIGN

Dark blue wrappers
12th Printing: Published in 1978, at $2.95.
14th Printing: Published in 1981, at $4.95.

A12cc 1989 FIRST EVERGREEN EDITION

Black and brown illustrated with cover illustration, "Dali's Dream of Venus" by Reginald Marsh.
Published September 1989, at $8.95.

A12dd 1991 FIRST GROVE WEIDENFELD EDITION

Black and brown illustrated wrappers with cover illustration, "Dali's Dream of Venus" by Reginald Marsh.
Published in September 1991, at $10.95.

A12ee 1996 SEVENTH GROVE EDITION

Gray wrappers with photo by Glen Erler
Published approximently in 1996 at $12.00.

Any questions about Miller's book, corrections or new variations. Please email to:

washley@pacbell.net

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