# Is "Death at the President's Lodging" by Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) (Victor Gollancz, 1936) is identified by: Gollancz house practice applies: no printing statement on the first edition before 1984, later impressions noted on the copyright page. UK Gollancz 1936 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Gollancz house practice applies: no printing statement on the first edition before 1984, later impressions noted on the copyright page
- The first is 8vo, 318pp, bound in black cloth lettered in red at the spine (independently recorded by Sotheby's and Clearwater Books), and must retain the multi-panel folding plan of "St Anthony's College" at the rear — its presence is a substantive completeness point, and the plan is frequently creased from misfolding
- The jacket is the yellow Gollancz jacket lettered in black and pink
- The author's first novel and the first appearance of Inspector John Appleby; scarce in the original jacket
- Publisher imprint reads Victor Gollancz
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) |
| Publisher | Victor Gollancz |
| Year | 1936 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Gollancz house practice applies: no printing statement on the first edition before 1984, later impressions noted on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Gollancz house practice applies: no printing statement on the first edition before 1984, later impressions noted on the copyright page. The first is 8vo, 318pp, bound in black cloth lettered in red at the spine (independently recorded by Sotheby's and Clearwater Books), and must retain the multi-panel folding plan of "St Anthony's College" at the rear — its presence is a substantive completeness point, and the plan is frequently creased from misfolding. The jacket is the yellow Gollancz jacket lettered in black and pink. The author's first novel and the first appearance of Inspector John Appleby; scarce in the original jacket.

## Is this the true first?
UK Gollancz 1936 is the true first and the census claim is confirmed. The US edition is Dodd, Mead (New York) 1937, retitled SEVEN SUSPECTS — a title-change trap rather than a "first thus": it is the first American edition, published a year after the London first, and a collector searching the US title will not surface the true first. Both are collected under their respective titles; precedence is not in doubt given the one-year gap.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No title-specific book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The practical reprint tell on this title is the binding and plan: MW Books catalogues one copy of the 1936 sheets as being in a later binding and wrapper, so confirm the black cloth lettered in red and the folding plan, not the title-page date alone.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Death at the President's Lodging* by Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/death-at-the-presidents-lodging
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.