The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet is a 1923 book comprising 26 poetic fables written by the Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran. It describes the long-awaited departure of the wise man Almustafa and his farewell with the people of the city, who wish to grasp his wisdom on life’s most important themes after many years of his living among them.
The Shehadi Collection
The earliest form of The Prophet can be found in the William H. Shehadi collection of Gibran's manuscripts, gifted to Princeton University in 2007, where they remain to this day.¹
In 1991, the American University of Beirut published Kahlil Gibran: A Prophet in the Making, based on the Shehadi Collection.
Handwritten manuscript pages of The Prophet²
First Publication
The book was first published by the New York publisher Alfred A. Knopf on 23 September 1923. This thin volume has sold millions of copies and achieved cult status in the 1960s.³ Initially, 2,000 copies were printed.
Octavo, [2], 107pp, [3]. Black cloth, title and illustration stamped in bright gilt on the front cover.
First printings usually have slightly discoloured covers.
Later publications list additional printings below the initial “Published September, 1923”. There is also a noticeable difference in the paper.
Vs later:
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References
- Princeton Catalog
- Shehadi, W.H. (1991) Kahlil Gibran: A Prophet in the Making. Beirut: American University of Beirut Press, pp. 150–357. Available at: Internet Archive (Accessed: 21 December 2025).
- Entering the Public Domain, Princeton Blog by Don Skemer.