Rupert Brooke | 1914 and Other Poems, New York, 1915, first American edition

Rupert Brooke 

1914 and Other Poems. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1915

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, one of 87 copies of unbound sheets printed by Doubleday to secure American copyright, first and final gatherings in paper self-wrappers, "1914-POEMS | STOCK" stamped in ink to upper wrapper, housed in blue quarter-morocco collector's case, slight creasing and browning, case slightly rubbed at extremities

Doubleday printed these sheets for copyright purposes but were unable to secure publishing rights so their proposed edition failed to appear. The sequence of events is explained in John Schroder's catalogue of his Rupert Brooke collection, which included papers from Brooke's English publisher Sidgwick & Jackson:

"This Copyright Edition was printed at the request of Sidgwick & Jackson who wrote to Doubleday, Page & Company on 9th June 1915 instructing them to secure American copyright. This was done promptly and a copy received by the Library of Congress on 15th July 1915. [...] [Christopher] Morley [...] was working for Doubleday and had written to Mrs Brooke enquiring about American rights. Mrs Brooke passed the request to [Eddie] Marsh who forwarded it to Frank Sidgwick [...] Unfortunately, Sidgwick & Jackson could not agree terms with Doubleday and eventually both Poems (1911) and 1914 and Other Poems were accepted by the John Lane Company in July 1915."