Is My From Hell a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Serialized in the anthology Taboo and then in standalone issues from Mad Love, Tundra, and Kitchen Sink, 1991 to 1996, with the Dance of the Gull-Catchers appendix issued separately in 1998
• First single-volume collected edition: Eddie Campbell Comics, November 1999, thick black-and-white softcover of roughly 572 pages, ISBN 0-9585783-4-6, incorporating the appendices
• First printing stated; original Eddie Campbell Comics imprint

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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

The Taboo anthology chapters and the standalone From Hell issues, 1991 to 1996, are the serial true first. The 1999 Eddie Campbell Comics single volume is the first complete collected book. Distinguish the Eddie Campbell Comics first from the later Top Shelf reprints and the 2001 film tie-in printing.P-000697

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is recorded. The 2001 film tie-in printing and the later Top Shelf and Knockabout reissues are later. Confirm the November 1999 Eddie Campbell Comics first printing, ISBN 0-9585783-4-6.P-000698

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of From Hell a first edition?

A first edition of From Hell by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell (Eddie Campbell Comics / Top Shelf) is identified by: Serialized in the anthology Taboo and then in standalone issues from Mad Love, Tundra, and Kitchen Sink, 1991 to 1996, with the Dance of the Gull-Catchers appendix issued separately in 1998.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. The Taboo anthology chapters and the standalone From Hell issues, 1991 to 1996, are the serial true first.

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

No book-club edition is recorded. The 2001 film tie-in printing and the later Top Shelf and Knockabout reissues are later. Confirm the November 1999 Eddie Campbell Comics first printing, ISBN 0-9585783-4-6.

I have a first edition of From Hell — 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.