University of Virginia Library

Publication Dates of the Novels

For the purpose of establishing the relationship of two editions of a book, their respective publication dates constitute evidence of only limited usefulness, and the closer the dates are, the less useful is the evidence. What is really needed are the dates when copy was first received by the publisher, when it was sent to the printer, when galley and page proofs were pulled, when the sheets were printed, and when finished books were delivered by the binder.

But such information is generally very difficult to obtain, and in its

absence, publication dates must be used as a rough indication of a possible priority. The dates given in the list below have been supplied by the individual publishers concerned, with the exception of Michael Scarlett, where the source was the published records of the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress and the 1927 volume of the English Catalogue of Books, respectively. Since the two versions of this novel appeared two calendar years apart, the date of publication within the year is unimportant for establishing precedence, but it should be pointed out that the records of the Copyright Office are often unreliable for publication dates. These dates, as recorded in the Copyright Office, are in effect the publishers' predicted date of publication, generally at the time when an advance copy was ready for deposit, and such a date may be changed more than once as a result of difficulties of production, unexpected pre-publication demand, or other causes. Again with the exception of Michael Scarlett, all the American publication dates have been checked with the generally reliable advertised dates in the Publisher's Weekly.

• [Confusion. Boston, Brimmer, 1924. (Not published in England.)]
• Michael Scarlett. New York, Albert & Charles Boni, [October] 1925. London, Robert Holden, [June] 1927.
• [Cock Pit. New York, William Morrow, 1928. (Not published in England.)]
• The Son of Perdition. New York, Morrow, [August 22,] 1929. London, Longmans, Green, [October 3,] 1929. (Sheets imported from America.)
• S. S. San Pedro. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [August 27,] 1931. London, Longmans, Green, [September 10,] 1931.
• The Last Adam. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [January 5,] 1933. London (entitled A Cure of Flesh), Longmans, Green, [February 23,] 1933.[*]
• Castaway. New York, Random House, [November 7,] 1934. London, Longmans, Green, [September 27,] 1934.
• Men and Brethren. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [January 2,] 1936. London, Longmans, Green, [March 9,] 1936.*
• Ask Me Tomorrow. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [June 13,] 1939. London, Longmans, Green, [October 7,] 1940.*
• The Just and the Unjust. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [July 23,] 1942. London, Jonathan Cape, [April 12,] 1943.*
• Guard of Honor. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [September 30,] 1948. London, Longmans, Green, [November 7,] 1949.*
• By Love Possessed. New York, Harcourt, Brace, [August 26,] 1957. London, Longmans, Green, [April 14,] 1958.