Is My Can Such Things Be? a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: New York, The Cassell Publishing Company, 1893
• Octavo, collating pp. [i-ii] iii-iv [1] 2-320 (iv + 320), with flyleaves front and rear; twenty-four tales, including 'The Death of Halpin Frayser,' 'The Moonlit Road' and 'Moxon's Master.' There is no edition or printing statement and no number line; identification rests on the 1893 Cassell Publishing Company title-page imprint and the 320-page collation
• Binding is NOT a single safe point: two markedly different bindings are recorded by top-tier sources — Currey describes original decorated mustard cloth, front panel stamped in brown and black, spine panel stamped in black and gold, rear panel stamped in blind
• Sotheby's cataloguing describes original blue cloth, upper cover lettered and pictorially stamped in black and red, lower cover with rules and Greek key in blind, spine lettered in gilt with a floral motif in gilt and black
• No priority between these bindings has been established in the sources consulted, so do not reject a copy on cloth color alone

How The Cassell Publishing Company, New York marked a first edition

• First printing = era-appropriate (title-page date pre-1920s / copyright statement after) with no reprint notation

Full The Cassell Publishing Company, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

The census claim is confirmed: the American Cassell edition of 1893 is the true first and the reference text; no British or foreign-language edition precedes it, and no early UK first is separately collected against it. The 1903 Neale Publishing 'new and authorized edition' is a substantially different book — Bierce's author's note complains that tales had been reprinted without his assent, and the 1903 contents overlap the 1893 collection only in a handful of the famous stories; it is a revised edition, not a first. The 1909-1912 Neale Collected Works scatters and rearranges the contents across volumes, which is why the 1893 Cassell state remains the reference.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The traps are the 1903 Neale Publishing revised edition (Washington/New York imprint, different contents), the Neale Collected Works volumes of 1909-1912, and the 1918 Boni & Liveright and 1926 A. & C. Boni reprints, all of which are commonly listed simply as 'Can Such Things Be?' with an early-looking date. Any copy whose title page does not read 'The Cassell Publishing Co.' with the date 1893 is a later edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Can Such Things Be? a first edition?

A first edition of Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce (The Cassell Publishing Company, New York) is identified by: First edition: New York, The Cassell Publishing Company, 1893.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The census claim is confirmed: the American Cassell edition of 1893 is the true first and the reference text; no British or foreign-language edition precedes it, and no early UK first is separately collected against it.

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

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The traps are the 1903 Neale Publishing revised edition (Washington/New York imprint, different contents), the Neale Collected Works volumes of 1909-1912, and the 1918 Boni & Liveright and 1926 A. & C. Boni reprints, all of which are commonly listed simply as 'Can Such Things Be?' with an early-looking date. Any copy whose title page does not read 'The Cassell Publishing Co.' with the date 1893 is a later edition.

I have a first edition of Can Such Things Be? — 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.