Is My Cold Hand in Mine a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Full title on the title page: Cold Hand in Mine: Eight Strange Stories
• Octavo, bound in violet/purple cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (independently described as "violet cloth" by one ABAA dealer and "purple cloth with gilt to spine" by a PBFA dealer — the same binding)
• L. W. Currey records no statement of printing on the copyright page, so the Gollancz first is identified negatively: the 1975 Gollancz imprint with no impression line or later-printing statement added
• The dust wrapper is non-pictorial, in Gollancz's typographic house style of the period, and a printed price is present at the front flap; price-clipped jackets are common on this title
• An advance uncorrected proof of the first edition exists and is separately catalogued by ABAA dealers

How Victor Gollancz Ltd, London marked a first edition

• Pre-1984: NO first-edition statement was made — first printings carry no 'First published' line; ONLY later printings were noted (so absence of any printing statement = likely first, presence of a reprint note = later)
• For pre-1984 titles, confirm via dust-jacket points, dated jackets, and absence of reprint notation rather than a positive statement

Full Victor Gollancz Ltd, London 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 UK 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?

UK first: Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1975 — the true first and the edition collected as such. It precedes the first American edition, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977, which is collected in its own right chiefly for its Edward Gorey dust-jacket illustration; the Scribner's binding is described as black cloth with silver spine lettering under a white jacket with black type, but that description is single-sourced and should be treated as provisional, and no first-printing point for the Scribner's issue (statement, number line or seal) could be confirmed. One correction to the census note: the 1975 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction went to the story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal", which first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1973 — the award attaches to the story, not to the Scribner's edition or to either book. The Faber (2014) and Tartarus Press reissues are "first thus".

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

A Book Club Edition of the Scribner's US printing exists and is offered by dealers, so the US edition must be screened before it is called a first. Period BCE tells apply: no printed price at the jacket flap, a blind stamp or small impressed mark on the rear board, and thinner, cheaper boards than the trade issue. No book-club printing of the Gollancz first is documented.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Cold Hand in Mine a first edition?

A first edition of Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman (Victor Gollancz Ltd, London) is identified by: Full title on the title page: Cold Hand in Mine: Eight Strange 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: Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1975 — the true first and the edition collected as such.

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

A Book Club Edition of the Scribner's US printing exists and is offered by dealers, so the US edition must be screened before it is called a first. Period BCE tells apply: no printed price at the jacket flap, a blind stamp or small impressed mark on the rear board, and thinner, cheaper boards than the trade issue. No book-club printing of the Gollancz first is documented.

I have a first edition of Cold Hand in Mine — 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.