A1
Roddy Doyle – The Commitments
A1 a. Ireland Edition
1. First Edition
King Farouk. Published 1987. Paperback. Title, [i], 143 pages numbered 1-143. Pages 211mm x 146mm. Front: on a blue and orange background a photo of a 12-piece band; in a white rectangle at the top in black text ‘T.H.E | COMMITMENTS’ and at the bottom in black ‘Roddy Doyle’. ISBN 0-9512072-02. Price on back cover IR£3.25.
Note 1: The first and only print run was 2000 copies.
Note 2: The MW Collection includes a copy extensively annotated by Roddy Doyle in 2022. On the first page he noted “There’s no formal title page, because I didn’t know what a title page was!”.
See photos below.
A1 b. UK Edition
1. First Edition
William Heinemann. Published 1988. Paperback. [i], title, [ii], 165 pages numbered 1-165, 1 blank. Pages 198mm x 124mm. Front: a background of a dark blue on light blue poster advertising 1960s soul singers; in the centre a diagonal red band with black text ‘RODDY DOYLE’, in black and white ‘THE COMMITMENTS’ and in black ‘The only novel with soul’. ISBN 0-434-20414-5. Price on back cover £3.95.
Note 1: There are two separate printings of the wrappers. One version has a quote by Dominic Behan on the back cover and the other has a quote by Elvis Costello. There is no indication as to which version has precedence.
Note 2: The paper used for this edition is especially prone to heavy toning.
See photos below.
A1 c. USA Edition
1. First Edition
Vintage Contemporaries. Paperback. [i], title, [iii], 165 pages numbered 1-165. Pages 202mm x 128mm. Front: cartoon characters around a black & white photo of James Brown; at the top in pear green ‘RODDY DOYLE’, in white ‘THE COMMITMENTS; at the bottom left in pear green a quote from Village Voice and in pale blue ‘VINTAGE | CONTEMPORARIES’. ISBN 0-679-72174-6. Price on back cover $6.95.
2. Proof
Vintage Contemporaries. Published July 1989. Paperback. Title, [ii], 165 pages numbered 1-165. Pages 197mm x 123mm. Front: red with text in black. Down the spine in black ‘Roddy Doyle THE COMMITMENTS (Vintage logo)’.
Note 1: This proof has been printed from the Heinemann plates but with some of the song lyrics redacted by being crossed out with a marker pen.
See photos below.
