Is My Final Blackout a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First book edition, issued in a single run of 1,000 copies
• Bound in black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt; dust jacket and interior illustrations by Betty Wells Halladay
• The copyright page carries no printing statement and no later-printing notice — Hadley issued only this one printing, so there is no number line or edition statement to hunt for; identification rests on the Hadley imprint itself together with the correct binding, the Halladay jacket, and the presence of the new preface Hubbard wrote for the book (absent from the 1940 magazine serial)
• Cited at Currey p
• Dealer collations and ISFDB give roman-numeral preliminaries followed by 154 pages of text; one catalogue entry citing Reginald reports a materially different pagination, so treat pagination as a secondary check rather than a decisive point
• Priced jacket: the price should be present at the flap and unclipped

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?

Census claim confirmed. The Hadley Publishing Co. edition (Providence, RI, 1948) is the true first book edition worldwide; no UK or other English-language edition precedes it, and there is no foreign-language original. Only the US edition is collected — there is no competing UK first to name. The text's true first appearance is the three-part serial in Astounding Science-Fiction (1940), but that is a magazine appearance, not a book edition, and the Hadley adds new prefatory matter by Hubbard.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the Hadley is documented, and none is possible from these sheets: the printing was a single run of 1,000 copies. Any copy bearing an imprint other than The Hadley Publishing Co. — including later hardcover reprints and modern reissues under other imprints — is a later edition, not the first. Watch for 'first thus' catalogue language attached to those reprints.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Final Blackout a first edition?

A first edition of Final Blackout by L. Ron Hubbard (The Hadley Publishing Co., Providence, Rhode Island) is identified by: First book edition, issued in a single run of 1,000 copies.

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). Census claim confirmed.

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

No book-club edition of the Hadley is documented, and none is possible from these sheets: the printing was a single run of 1,000 copies. Any copy bearing an imprint other than The Hadley Publishing Co. — including later hardcover reprints and modern reissues under other imprints — is a later edition, not the first. Watch for 'first thus' catalogue language attached to those reprints.

I have a first edition of Final Blackout — 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.