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........Editions & Early Publishing History

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This is a rare copy of the 1879 first edition published in Mobile, Alabama. It is the only edition to carry the same title on the cover and the title page.

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This is the 1880 edition, from the first printing by John B. Piet in Baltimore, Maryland. It marks the first appearance of the alternate title: "Poems: Patriotic, Religious, Miscellaneous" on the title page. It is not known whether the prominent placement of "patriotic" was at Fr. Ryan's request, or whether this was a promotional decision by the publisher. The copyright statement reads: COPYRIGHT, 1880, BY ABRAM J. RYAN.

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This book, from 1883, is essentially a reprinting of the 1880 edition. Note the more elaborate decorative banding across the top and bottom edges of the cover. The copyright statement is unchanged from the 1880 edition.

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This is the 1887 edition, listed as the "Tenth Edition," published not long after Fr. Ryan's death. John B. Piet had gone out of business during Ryan's lifetime, and this book's imprint reads "Baltimore Publishing Company." The original 1880 copyright statement remains.

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This is the 1896 edition published by P. J. Kenedy & Sons of New York. Ryan's original 1880 copyright statement remains, but is followed by an 1896 copyright statement for P. J. Kenedy & Sons. This edition contains seven "posthumous poems." However these seven poems do not duplicate any unpublished poems in the Sr. Donnallan transcription notebook.

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