# Is "20th Century Ghosts" by Joe Hill a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (PS Publishing, Hornsea, 2005) is identified by: PS Publishing issued Hill's first book in October 2005 in three simultaneous states: a deluxe slipcased hardcover limited to 200 numbered copies signed by Joe Hill and by Christopher Golden (who supplied the introduction); a jacketed hardcover limited to 500 numbered copies signed by Hill alone; and an unsigned trade paperback limited to 1,000 copies. UK precedes US, and both editions are collected.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- PS Publishing issued Hill's first book in October 2005 in three simultaneous states: a deluxe slipcased hardcover limited to 200 numbered copies signed by Joe Hill and by Christopher Golden (who supplied the introduction); a jacketed hardcover limited to 500 numbered copies signed by Hill alone; and an unsigned trade paperback limited to 1,000 copies
- Cover art by Vincent Chong; introduction by Christopher Golden
- 341 pp., 8vo
- Identification is by the printed limitation statement and hand-numbering, not by a number line — PS Publishing books carry no descending number line, so the 'look for the 1' habit does not apply here
- All three states are first printings of the true first edition; the 200-copy slipcased issue is the highest state and must retain the publisher's slipcase to be described as such
- The original release was sold largely by pre-order direct from the publisher's website
- Publisher imprint reads PS Publishing, Hornsea

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joe Hill |
| Publisher | PS Publishing, Hornsea |
| Year | 2005 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | PS Publishing issued Hill's first book in October 2005 in three simultaneous states: a deluxe slipcased hardcover limited to 200 numbered… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
PS Publishing issued Hill's first book in October 2005 in three simultaneous states: a deluxe slipcased hardcover limited to 200 numbered copies signed by Joe Hill and by Christopher Golden (who supplied the introduction); a jacketed hardcover limited to 500 numbered copies signed by Hill alone; and an unsigned trade paperback limited to 1,000 copies. Cover art by Vincent Chong; introduction by Christopher Golden; 341 pp., 8vo. Identification is by the printed limitation statement and hand-numbering, not by a number line — PS Publishing books carry no descending number line, so the 'look for the 1' habit does not apply here. All three states are first printings of the true first edition; the 200-copy slipcased issue is the highest state and must retain the publisher's slipcase to be described as such. The original release was sold largely by pre-order direct from the publisher's website. The collection won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection and the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection.

## Is this the true first?
UK precedes US, and both editions are collected. The true first is PS Publishing, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, October 2005 — Joe Hill's debut book. The first US edition is William Morrow (HarperCollins), New York, October 2007, and it is not a straight reprint: it adds 'Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead' (first published in Postscripts, Autumn 2005), which was not in the PS edition. The Morrow edition is therefore simultaneously the first US edition, the first trade edition, and the first book appearance of that story — a genuine expanded 'first thus' collected on its own terms — but it is not the true first of the collection. The census claim is confirmed as stated.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented for the PS issue, which was a small-press, pre-order release. The reprint trap runs in the opposite direction from the usual: the widely available 2007 Morrow trade hardcover and its later printings are commonly offered as simply 'first edition' because they are the first edition in the US, and buyers read that as the true first. Morrow first printings are identified by a complete number line with 1 present. A US Morrow advance reading copy in wrappers also exists and is not the first edition of anything. Any copy without a printed PS limitation statement and hand-number is not one of the two 2005 hardcover states.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *20th Century Ghosts* by Joe Hill a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/20th-century-ghosts
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.