# Is "At the Earth's Core" by Edgar Rice Burroughs a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1922) is identified by: The true first is Chicago, A. US original, and the first book of the Pellucidar series — the McClurg Chicago 1922 edition is the true first in book form and precedes any English edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922, issued 22 July 1922
- Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published July, 1922'; dealer descriptions additionally record the printer credit 'M. A. DONOHUE & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO' on the copyright page (consistently reported, but drawn from a common trade description — corroborate against the copy in hand before relying on it alone)
- Collation: octavo, [1-8] 1-277 [278: blank] [279-282: ads], with NINE inserted sepia plates by J. Allen St
- Binding: original gray-green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black
- Jacket is a four-colour pictorial by St
- First print run reported at 17,000 copies against roughly 115,000 McClurg copies across all printings, so the 'Published July, 1922' line plus the nine-plate count and gray-green cloth must be checked together
- Publisher imprint reads A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Publisher | A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago |
| Year | 1922 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922, issued 22 July 1922 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1922, issued 22 July 1922. Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published July, 1922'; dealer descriptions additionally record the printer credit 'M. A. DONOHUE & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO' on the copyright page (consistently reported, but drawn from a common trade description — corroborate against the copy in hand before relying on it alone). Collation: octavo, [1-8] 1-277 [278: blank] [279-282: ads], with NINE inserted sepia plates by J. Allen St. John. Binding: original gray-green cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black. Jacket is a four-colour pictorial by St. John. First print run reported at 17,000 copies against roughly 115,000 McClurg copies across all printings, so the 'Published July, 1922' line plus the nine-plate count and gray-green cloth must be checked together.

## Is this the true first?
US original, and the first book of the Pellucidar series — the McClurg Chicago 1922 edition is the true first in book form and precedes any English edition. The text first appeared as a four-part serial in All-Story Weekly, 4–25 April 1914. A Methuen (London) edition is reported to have followed in February 1923; that date rests on a single secondary source here and is NOT independently confirmed — cite the McClurg 1922 as the first and treat the Methuen year as unverified.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Grosset & Dunlap reprinted from 1923 and repeatedly thereafter. The quickest tell is the plate count: the G&D reprints carry only EIGHT interior plates against the McClurg first's nine, alongside the G&D imprint on the title page and at the spine foot. No book-club issue is documented for this title.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *At the Earth's Core* by Edgar Rice Burroughs a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/at-the-earths-core
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.