Q. When citing an essay that predates the anthology book in which it is featured, is the original year of the essay included in the citation in addition to the anthology publication year?
A. It’s optional. Normally, if you’ve mentioned the original year in your text—or provided some idea of the period during which the essay was composed or published—you won’t need to also include it in the citation. Moreover, it’s not always easy to pin down the exact date of an original essay—particularly if there were several published versions or if it hadn’t been published at all.
But if you do know the date and want to add it for additional context, here’s how you might style it:
Numbered note and bibliography entry:
1. W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of the Coming of John,” in The Making of the American Essay, ed. John D’Agata (1903; Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016).
Du Bois, W. E. B. 2016. “Of the Coming of John.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 253–68. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press. Originally published as chapter 13 in The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1903).
Reference list entry and parenthetical citation (author-date):
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903) 2016. “Of the Coming of John.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 253–68. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press.
(Du Bois [1903] 2016)
For more examples, see CMOS 14.114 (notes and bibliography) and CMOS 15.40 (author-date).