Is My For Love of Imabelle (A Rage in Harlem) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• A paperback original: there is no hardcover first, and the book is collected only in its original pictorial wrappers
• The first is Fawcett Publications' Gold Medal #717, 1957 (Gold Medal's imprint address is Greenwich, Connecticut), with the number 717 printed on the front cover; the title is uncommon in collectible condition and scarce in any condition
• Fawcett's number-line printing code is a later practice and is not present on a 1957 Gold Medal, so identification rests on the imprint and number: Gold Medal 717, 1957, in wraps, with no later-printing statement on the copyright page
• Any copy showing a later-printing statement, a different Gold Medal number, or a different imprint is not the first
• Cover art is attributed to Mitchell Hooks in one sale record; that attribution is not independently corroborated and should be treated as unconfirmed
• This is Himes's first crime novel and the first appearance of Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones

How Fawcett Gold Medal marked a first edition

• Gold Medal pioneered the PAPERBACK ORIGINAL — so the Gold Medal paperback is itself the first edition (no prior hardcover) for most of its crime/noir list. Identification centers on first-PRINTING points, not first-editi…
• First printing is identified by the Gold Medal serial number and the copyright-page printing notice: a true first usually has NO 'Second printing'/'Third printing' line; later printings explicitly state the printing and…

Full Fawcett Gold Medal first-edition guide →

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 US 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?

The census claim is correct and, importantly, refutes a common dealer error. The US Gold Medal paperback original of 1957 is the true first. The French edition — La Reine des pommes, Paris: Gallimard, Série noire no. 419, translated by Minnie Danzas, 253 pp. — appeared in 1958, a year AFTER the American issue, notwithstanding that Marcel Duhamel commissioned the book for the Série noire and that the French edition won the 1958 Grand Prix de littérature policière. Catalogue copy asserting the novel was "first published in France" is wrong on precedence; the Gallimard 1958 is collected as the first French edition and as the prize-winning issue, not as the first edition. The retitling to A Rage in Harlem is a first thus, not a first: Avon, 1965, Avon G1244.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition exists — the title was born as a mass-market paperback original. The reprint tells run the other way: Avon G1244 (1965) and every subsequent printing titled A Rage in Harlem are reprints under a new title, as are modern editions marketed as "For Love of Imabelle (formerly A Rage in Harlem)" or under the Harlem Cycle / Harlem Detectives series branding. Later Gold Medal printings of #717 state the printing on the copyright page.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of For Love of Imabelle (A Rage in Harlem) a first edition?

A first edition of For Love of Imabelle (A Rage in Harlem) by Chester Himes (Fawcett Gold Medal) is identified by: A paperback original: there is no hardcover first, and the book is collected only in its original pictorial wrappers.

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). The census claim is correct and, importantly, refutes a common dealer error.

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

No book-club edition exists — the title was born as a mass-market paperback original. The reprint tells run the other way: Avon G1244 (1965) and every subsequent printing titled A Rage in Harlem are reprints under a new title, as are modern editions marketed as "For Love of Imabelle (formerly A Rage in Harlem)" or under the Harlem Cycle / Harlem Detectives series branding. Later Gold Medal printings of #717 state the printing on the copyright page.

I have a first edition of For Love of Imabelle (A Rage in Harlem) — 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.