Is My Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories a First Edition?

The points of issue

• George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., London, 1914 (Broadway House, 68–74 Carter Lane, E.C.): octavo, original decorated red to scarlet cloth, the front panel with author, title and decoration stamped in blind and the spine panel stamped in gold and blind; pp. [1–8], 1–200
• Collates nine stories and opens with Florence Bram Stoker's preface, in which she describes the title story as an episode excised from Dracula for length
• The identification point that matters is the impression statement: demand carried the book through several impressions within 1914 itself, and the later ones are stated as such — Richard Dalby's Library (Dalby being the Stoker bibliographer) lists a copy explicitly labelled "Third impression", and second- and third-impression copies circulate freely — so a copy dated 1914 carrying no impression statement is the first impression, while any stated impression is not, despite the identical title-page year
• Jacketed copies are scarce; a jacket with artwork by Handforth and a price present at the flap is recorded, but by a single dealer only, so treat that jacket detail as indicative rather than established
• A cheaply made book: foxing, tanned endpapers and cocked spines are the norm

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
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?

Posthumous UK Routledge 1914 is the true first, published two years after Stoker's death at Florence Stoker's instigation. The first American edition did not follow until 1937, from Hillman-Curl, Inc., New York, under the shortened title Dracula's Guest (dropping "and Other Weird Stories"), in publisher's decorated light green cloth stamped in black on front and spine panels, top edge stained, fore-edge untrimmed, approx. 284 pp. Both are collected — the Routledge 1914 as the true first, the Hillman-Curl 1937 as a scarce American first — but the 1937 reprints a 1914 text and must never be described as a first edition without the "American" qualifier.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club edition documented. The reprint field is dense: multiple stated impressions appeared within 1914 (second, third, and later — a ninth impression is recorded), all dated from the same first-edition setting and outwardly near-identical in size and binding, and these are the copies most often mis-offered as firsts precisely because the title-page year is unchanged. Later Routledge printings, and the many modern anthology reprints that carry only the single story "Dracula's Guest" rather than the nine-story collection, are separate traps.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories a first edition?

A first edition of Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories by Bram Stoker (George Routledge & Sons, London) is identified by: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., London, 1914 (Broadway House, 68–74 Carter Lane, E.C.): octavo, original decorated red to scarlet cloth, the front panel with author, title and decoration stamped in blind and the spine panel stamped in gold and blind; pp.

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Posthumous UK Routledge 1914 is the true first, published two years after Stoker's death at Florence Stoker's instigation.

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

No contemporary book-club edition documented. The reprint field is dense: multiple stated impressions appeared within 1914 (second, third, and later — a ninth impression is recorded), all dated from the same first-edition setting and outwardly near-identical in size and binding, and these are the copies most often mis-offered as firsts precisely because the title-page year is unchanged. Later Routledge printings, and the many modern anthology reprints that carry only the single story "Dracula's

I have a first edition of Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories — 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.