Dear Pound List Subscribers:
 
As many of you know, one of Pound's most important pre-Cantos works, "Hugh
Selwyn Mauberley" (HSM), was first published by John Rodker's Ovid Press in
1920 in an edition of  200 copies (more or less).  Per the colophon, 15
copies were on vellum and signed by EP, 20 were on handmade paper and signed
by EP, and the remainder were unsigned (some, however, were inscribed by the
author).  All (except for an undetermined number out of series) were numbered.
 
A recent (1996) development bibliographically was the discovery that the
first edition of HSM exists in two separate states.
 
Archie Henderson is engaged in a project to supplement Donald Gallup's
bibliography of Ezra Pound.  As a "side adventure," he and I have been
developing a census of extant copies of HSM, with an analysis of the states
and other observations of at least bibliographical note (though, as many of
you know, the bibliographical history of the poem has had an arguable impact
on interpretations and appreciation of it and has not been without controversy).
 
We have exhausted the obvious sources of information about existing copies:
major university and public libraries, internet catalogues, internet
booksellers, auction data, etc.  We have had considerable success in
locating a substantial number of surviving copies (primarily in university
or national libraries in the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, and
France), but we have not accounted for the entire edition.
 
Before we close out our efforts and turn our attention to drafting up our
findings and conclusions for publication, we thought it would be wise to
consult the List subscribers to solicit their input.  If you own a copy or
know of the existence of one (in a library or private collection, etc.) or
of the demise of one, etc., we would appreciate hearing
from you through the list or back-channel (I am [log in to unmask],
Archie is [log in to unmask]).
 
Thanks for your attention.
 
Joe Finnerty
 
cc: Archie Henderson