# Is "A Gent from Bear Creek" by Robert E. Howard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Gent from Bear Creek by Robert E. Howard (Herbert Jenkins Ltd, 1937) is identified by: The 1937 Herbert Jenkins first collates 312 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's advertisements, in orange cloth; the dust jacket is exceptionally scarce, and jacketed copies are institutional rarities (the Bodleian holds one). The Herbert Jenkins first edition, London, 1937, is the true first and the only edition of Howard's lifetime era — but the census note is wrong on one point: this was published POSTHUMOUSLY, Howard having died in June 1936, and it is generally cited as the first Howard book published.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The 1937 Herbert Jenkins first collates 312 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's advertisements, in orange cloth; the dust jacket is exceptionally scarce, and jacketed copies are institutional rarities (the Bodleian holds one)
- HowardWorks reports only about twenty copies known in any state as of late 2025, and many survivors are ex-lending-library examples — Boots Book Lovers' Library copies are frequently encountered — usually lacking the jacket
- The book gathers reworked Breckinridge Elkins stories into thirteen continuous chapters, three of them newly written ('Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts', 'Meet Cap'n Kidd', 'When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear'), with 'Educate or Bust' a rewrite of 'Sharp's Gun Serenade'
- A later Jenkins impression is reported to be distinguishable only by a reduced-price sticker applied over the printed price on the lower jacket panel, so an unstickered priced jacket is the first-impression indicator; the sheets themselves are believed not to differ
- Publisher imprint reads Herbert Jenkins Ltd
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert E. Howard |
| Publisher | Herbert Jenkins Ltd |
| Year | 1937 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The 1937 Herbert Jenkins first collates 312 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's advertisements, in orange cloth; the dust jacket is… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The 1937 Herbert Jenkins first collates 312 pages plus 8 pages of publisher's advertisements, in orange cloth; the dust jacket is exceptionally scarce, and jacketed copies are institutional rarities (the Bodleian holds one). HowardWorks reports only about twenty copies known in any state as of late 2025, and many survivors are ex-lending-library examples — Boots Book Lovers' Library copies are frequently encountered — usually lacking the jacket. The book gathers reworked Breckinridge Elkins stories into thirteen continuous chapters, three of them newly written ('Striped Shirts and Busted Hearts', 'Meet Cap'n Kidd', 'When Bear Creek Came to Chawed Ear'), with 'Educate or Bust' a rewrite of 'Sharp's Gun Serenade'. A later Jenkins impression is reported to be distinguishable only by a reduced-price sticker applied over the printed price on the lower jacket panel, so an unstickered priced jacket is the first-impression indicator; the sheets themselves are believed not to differ.

## Is this the true first?
The Herbert Jenkins first edition, London, 1937, is the true first and the only edition of Howard's lifetime era — but the census note is wrong on one point: this was published POSTHUMOUSLY, Howard having died in June 1936, and it is generally cited as the first Howard book published. The census is also wrong on the US first: it is NOT Gnome Press but Donald M. Grant, Publisher, West Kingston, Rhode Island, 1965 — 732 copies, illustrated by Tim Kirk (colour jacket art and three black-and-white interiors), and copies are 'stated First American Edition'. Both the Jenkins and the Grant are collected; no original-language issue arises, as Howard wrote in English and the UK issue is the first appearance.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented. The critical trap is a modern facsimile reproduction of the 1937 Jenkins: it is bound in BLUE cloth rather than orange, carries the Jenkins logo to the spine, and wears a facsimile of the original jacket art — cloth colour is therefore a first-line check. The Donald M. Grant 1965 was itself a facsimile-style reprinting of the Jenkins text, and every subsequent reprinting has been edited; the 1975 paperback is a revised edition, and later print-on-demand hardcovers are 'first thus' at best.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Gent from Bear Creek* by Robert E. Howard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-gent-from-bear-creek
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.