Is My And Then There Were None a First Edition?

The points of issue

• UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange cloth lettered in black
• The copyright page is dated 1939 with no later-impression statement; a first-issue priced dust jacket (price present at the flap) under the original title confirms the earliest issue
• Jacketed copies are extremely scarce

How Collins Crime Club marked a first edition

• Collins (UK) generally did NOT use 'First Edition' statements or number lines in the classic era; firsts are identified by the absence of later-printing/reprint notices on the copyright/verso page combined with a publica…
• For collected authors (Agatha Christie etc.), identification is point-driven: jacket price, rear-panel advertisements, and the famous Crime Club 'gunman' device on the jacket. 'A Crime Club Sixpenny' lettered in the gunm…

Full Collins Crime Club first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Precedence: the UK Collins Crime Club first (6 November 1939), under the original title, is the true world first. The US Dodd, Mead first followed in January 1940 (264 pp) and introduced the enduring title 'And Then There Were None,' taken from the last line of the American form of the counting rhyme (US later editions and the stage version also used 'Ten Little Indians'). Both the UK 1939 and US 1940 firsts are collected; the UK precedes.P-036398

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The US Dodd, Mead first and all later editions use 'And Then There Were None' (or 'Ten Little Indians'), never the original UK title. Later Collins printings state the impression. Confirm a UK first by the 1939 Collins Crime Club imprint and the absence of any impression notice.P-036399

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of And Then There Were None a first edition?

A first edition of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Collins Crime Club) is identified by: UK Collins Crime Club, 6 November 1939, published under the novel's original (now-retired and offensive) title — 256 pp, publisher's orange cloth lettered in black.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Precedence: the UK Collins Crime Club first (6 November 1939), under the original title, is the true world first.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

The US Dodd, Mead first and all later editions use 'And Then There Were None' (or 'Ten Little Indians'), never the original UK title. Later Collins printings state the impression. Confirm a UK first by the 1939 Collins Crime Club imprint and the absence of any impression notice.

I have a first edition of And Then There Were None — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.