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Beowulf and the Finnsburg Fragment 1st 1940

11 Oct, 2020
2020-10-11 12:50:14 PM UTC

Dear all,

I found a copy of Beowulf and the Finnsburg Fragment - 1940 - 1st edition / 2nd printing (with the first appearance of Tolkien's essay) with a dust jacket in relatively good condition.
The strange thing is this dust jacket seems to be a variant of the one usually seen for this book. For instance, there is no publisher colophon on the spine, neither it has the Georges Allen & Unwin writing. The front flap is not priced, and the back of the dust jacket doesn't show the usual advertisement.
The cloth itself shows no difference (Georges Allen & Unwin printed on the spine), as does the copyright page (Only "First published in 1911 - Completely revised 1940").

These details draws attention. Sorry for the lowres pictures, I don't have others at the moment.
Your insights are most welcome !!

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11 Oct, 2020 (edited)
2020-10-11 12:57:27 PM UTC
Im adding pictures of a copy sold 3 years ago for comparison.




11 Oct, 2020
2020-10-11 1:15:29 PM UTC
Interesting.
There is no hint of two different stages of printing in the cost books for this book.
Maybe it is a proof version of the jacket produced before the final text was ready.
11 Oct, 2020 (edited)
2020-10-11 1:31:59 PM UTC

Deagol wrote:

Interesting.
There is no hint of two different stages of printing in the cost books for this book.
Maybe it is a proof version of the jacket produced before the final text was ready.

Thanks Deagol

That's what I was thinking about, since I didn't read that two different states for this impression would exist (either on your website and in Hammond's Descriptive bibliography).
If so, that makes that jacket pretty unique doesn't it?
11 Oct, 2020
2020-10-11 3:15:52 PM UTC
Definitely an odd one.
They did produce 10 proof copies in addition to 14 travellers samples, so this could perhaps be a proof copy that has survived somehow.
11 Oct, 2020
2020-10-11 6:12:01 PM UTC
I would suspect a proof jacket also.

Wayne
11 Oct, 2020
2020-10-11 8:45:20 PM UTC
Thank you very much for your insights Deagol and Findegil.
Do you know if and how I could read the A&U archives online regarding this edition of Beowulf ? It would interest me to dive into it.
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