# Is "Hauntings: Fantastic Stories" by Vernon Lee a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Hauntings: Fantastic Stories by Vernon Lee (William Heinemann, 1890) is identified by: Published by William Heinemann, London, in 1890, collating [i-vii]viii-xi[xii][1-2]3-237[238] pages plus six pages of publisher's advertisements.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by William Heinemann, London, in 1890, collating [i-vii]viii-xi[xii][1-2]3-237[238] pages plus six pages of publisher's advertisements
- The first edition is bound in original decorated terra-cotta cloth, with the front and rear panels stamped in black and the spine in black and gold, and black-coated endpapers
- It collects four tales of the supernatural: 'Amour Dure,' 'Dionea,' 'Oke of Okehurst; or, The Phantom Lover' (previously issued separately as A Phantom Lover in 1886), and 'A Wicked Voice.' Vernon Lee herself recorded that almost the entire first-edition stock, aside from author's and press copies, was destroyed in a warehouse fire shortly after publication, which accounts for the scarcity of the first issue
- Publisher imprint reads William Heinemann
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Vernon Lee |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
| Year | 1890 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by William Heinemann, London, in 1890, collating [i-vii]viii-xi[xii][1-2]3-237[238] pages plus six pages of publisher's… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published by William Heinemann, London, in 1890, collating [i-vii]viii-xi[xii][1-2]3-237[238] pages plus six pages of publisher's advertisements. The first edition is bound in original decorated terra-cotta cloth, with the front and rear panels stamped in black and the spine in black and gold, and black-coated endpapers. It collects four tales of the supernatural: 'Amour Dure,' 'Dionea,' 'Oke of Okehurst; or, The Phantom Lover' (previously issued separately as A Phantom Lover in 1886), and 'A Wicked Voice.' Vernon Lee herself recorded that almost the entire first-edition stock, aside from author's and press copies, was destroyed in a warehouse fire shortly after publication, which accounts for the scarcity of the first issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1906 John Lane reissue and later twentieth-century reprints use different bindings and story selections and are not to be confused with the 1890 Heinemann terra-cotta-cloth first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Hauntings: Fantastic Stories* by Vernon Lee a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/hauntings-fantastic-stories
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.