Full Title:

The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance

Publication:

London, Jonathan Cape, 1924

Binding:

Worm-A2: Crown octavo, 8 3/16 in. x 6 in.; black cloth, gilt lettering and decorations on spine and front cover; top edge trimmed, otherwise untrimmed. Spine: [three rules joined at the ends to make a single box] | THE WORM | OUROBOROS | E.R. EDDISON | JONATHAN CAPE | [three rules joined at the ends to make a single box]. Front cover: [device of flying hippogriff in a circle, drawn by Keith Henderson]. Rear cover blank. (see image above).

Worm-A2a: Crown octavo, 8 3/16 in. x 6 in.; black cloth, gilt lettering and decorations on spine, front cover in blind; top edge trimmed, otherwise untrimmed. Spine: [three rules joined at the ends to make a single box] | THE WORM | OUROBOROS | E.R. EDDISON | JONATHAN CAPE | [three rules joined at the ends to make a single box]. Front cover: [device of flying hippogriff in a circle, drawn by Keith Henderson, stamped in blind]. Rear cover: [publisher's device, stamped in blind] (see image above).

The binding of Worm-A2 is identical to the binding of the 1922 issue Worm-A1. The binding comparison above (Worm-A2 on the left) shows that slightly different shades of cloth were used on A2 and A2a, and that the publisher's names at the bottom of the spines are in different settings.

Notes:

The dust jacket shown is a reproduction from Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC.

The title page verso and dust jacket both read "New and Cheaper Edition." The title page is a cancel, though, and I have seen it stated in several places that the 1924 issue is actually a reissue of left-over first printings, rather than a true second printing. My own opinion is that is very likely correct. I have collated my two copies of Worm-A2 against two copies of the 1922 printing, and found nothing that would suggest A2 was actually a later printing. The 1924 issue is clearly printed from type, and the settings of both the 1922 and 1924 issues are identical. Either they kept the type in its forms for two years, or these were printed more or less at the same time. In addition, the cancel title does suggest a single printing - I would expect a second printing to have a new title page. Those points do not prove there was only one printing, of course, but they do strongly support that position. We also know that sales of the first printing were poor, so the possibility that copies of that printing were left unbound and issued later is very real. It's also possible that some bound but unsold copies of the 1922 issue may have had cancel titles inserted.