Is My Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London, Eveleigh Nash, 1913: collating [i-iv] v-vii [viii-x] 11-287 [288: advertisement], containing SIX Carnacki stories
• Original red cloth, front panel stamped in gold and blind, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind
• Copies were issued both with and without a 16-page publisher's catalogue inserted at the rear, and priority, if any, is unknown — so the catalogue's presence or absence neither confirms nor disqualifies a copy, a point worth stating plainly because dealers sometimes imply otherwise
• There is no edition statement and no number line; identification rests on the Nash imprint, the six-story contents and the collation
• Count the stories first: six means the 1913 Nash first, nine means the 1947 Mycroft & Moran text or a descendant of it

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
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?

UK first and true first: Eveleigh Nash, London, 1913, six stories — census claim confirmed. The 1947 edition (Mycroft & Moran, the Arkham House imprint, Sauk City, Wisconsin; 3,050 copies; edited by August Derleth; dust jacket by Frank Utpatel; c. 241 pp.) is the first US edition and the first ENLARGED edition, adding three stories — 'The Haunted Jarvee' (published posthumously in The Premier Magazine, 1929), 'The Hog' (Weird Tales, 1947) and 'The Find' (previously unpublished) — for nine in total. Both are legitimately collected, and the census is right that both states matter, but the 1947 is a textbook 'first thus' trap: it is the first book appearance of those three stories and the first US printing, NOT the first edition of the collection. Catalogue it precisely as 'first American / first enlarged edition,' never as 'first edition.'

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for either the 1913 Nash or the 1947 Mycroft & Moran edition; the Arkham House printing was limited to 3,050 copies, which constituted the whole issue. A 1947 copy should retain its Frank Utpatel dust jacket. Later Hodgson revivals, Arkham reprints and paperbacks are told by ISBNs and modern typography; any copy containing nine stories is the 1947-or-later text, not the Nash first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder a first edition?

A first edition of Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder by William Hope Hodgson (Eveleigh Nash, London) is identified by: London, Eveleigh Nash, 1913: collating [i-iv] v-vii [viii-x] 11-287 [288: advertisement], containing SIX Carnacki stories.

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). UK first and true first: Eveleigh Nash, London, 1913, six stories — census claim confirmed.

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

No book-club issue is documented for either the 1913 Nash or the 1947 Mycroft & Moran edition; the Arkham House printing was limited to 3,050 copies, which constituted the whole issue. A 1947 copy should retain its Frank Utpatel dust jacket. Later Hodgson revivals, Arkham reprints and paperbacks are told by ISBNs and modern typography; any copy containing nine stories is the 1947-or-later text, not the Nash first.

I have a first edition of Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder — 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.