# Is "Dracula" by Bram Stoker a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker (Archibald Constable and Company, 1897) is identified by: First edition, Archibald Constable and Company (Westminster/London), 1897; first impression of 3,000 copies in the publisher's yellow cloth lettered in red on the spine and front board; published at the printed price; collation approximately [viii] + 390 pp. The London/Westminster Constable yellow-cloth edition of 1897 is the true first; the first American edition (Doubleday & McClure Co., New York, 1899) is a separate, later first and does not precede it.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, Archibald Constable and Company (Westminster/London), 1897; first impression of 3,000 copies in the publisher's yellow cloth lettered in red on the spine and front board; published at the printed price; collation approximately [viii] + 390 pp
- The decisive first-issue point is at the very back of the book: the final integral leaf (the last leaf of the last gathering, signature 2C4) is BLANK and carries NO advertisement for Stoker's earlier book 'The Shoulder of Shasta.' Copies that print the 'Shoulder of Shasta' advertisement on that terminal leaf are later printings (second to fourth), not the first issue
- A publisher's advertisement catalogue at the rear is NOT a first-issue credential (see below)
- Publisher imprint reads Archibald Constable and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Bram Stoker |
| Publisher | Archibald Constable and Company |
| Year | 1897 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, Archibald Constable and Company (Westminster/London), 1897; first impression of 3,000 copies in the publisher's yellow cloth… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, Archibald Constable and Company (Westminster/London), 1897; first impression of 3,000 copies in the publisher's yellow cloth lettered in red on the spine and front board; published at the printed price; collation approximately [viii] + 390 pp. The decisive first-issue point is at the very back of the book: the final integral leaf (the last leaf of the last gathering, signature 2C4) is BLANK and carries NO advertisement for Stoker's earlier book 'The Shoulder of Shasta.' Copies that print the 'Shoulder of Shasta' advertisement on that terminal leaf are later printings (second to fourth), not the first issue. A publisher's advertisement catalogue at the rear is NOT a first-issue credential (see below).

## Is this the true first?
The London/Westminster Constable yellow-cloth edition of 1897 is the true first; the first American edition (Doubleday & McClure Co., New York, 1899) is a separate, later first and does not precede it. Within the 1897 first printing there are two binding states: State A (priority), with no publisher's advertisement catalogue bound in at the rear; and State B, with an UNDATED Constable catalogue that lists no book published after 1897. State A's priority is established by physical evidence — all of Stoker's presentation copies inscribed in May-June 1897, the earliest publisher's presentation copies, the legal-deposit copy, and the review copies are without the catalogue. Author-inscribed presentation copies (May-June 1897), being catalogue-less, sit at the top of the collecting hierarchy and exemplify State A.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
There is no book-club edition of the 1897 first. The traps are later Constable printings and cheap/colonial reissues: the second to fourth printings add the 'Shoulder of Shasta' advertisement on the terminal leaf, and later reissues appear in different cloth (the colonial issue carries its own title-page imprint). A rear publisher's catalogue is not proof of a first issue — the earliest copies have none, and any Constable catalogue that is present is undated (no title later than 1897). The reliable tells are the yellow cloth lettered in red and, above all, the blank final leaf with no 'Shoulder of Shasta' advertisement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Dracula* by Bram Stoker a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/dracula
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.