Is My John Silence — Physician Extraordinary a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition: London, Eveleigh Nash, 1908
• Octavo (approx
• 190 x 122 mm), [4]ff plus 390 pp., containing the five John Silence cases
• Bound in publisher's red (variously described by dealers as red, maroon or burgundy) cloth, titled in gilt on the spine and the front board, with a gilt swastika device stamped at the lower front corner — a period good-luck ornament, and the single most useful binding tell for the Nash first
• Copies are found with a 32-page publisher's advertising catalogue dated 'Spring 1908' bound in at the rear and copies are found without it; no priority has been established
• There is no edition or printing statement and no number line, so identification rests on the 1908 Nash title-page imprint plus the gilt-device binding and the 390-page collation

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 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.
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?

The precedence claim is confirmed: the UK Eveleigh Nash edition of 1908 is the true first. The first American edition followed from John W. Luce & Company, Boston, in 1909; it is separately collected as the first US but is subsequent to the London printing and is not the first edition. One caution on the census note: the 'promoted on London buses' detail could not be corroborated in any bibliographic or dealer source — an aggressive Nash advertising campaign is generally documented, but the specific bus-poster anecdote should not be published as fact and is not an identification point in any case.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The common reprint tells are the Luce Boston 1909 first American (Boston imprint on the title page, different collation), later Nash reissues from the same setting, and the widely circulated 1920s–1930s reprints; any copy lacking the gilt swastika device at the lower front corner of a red-cloth board should be treated as a later binding or reprint until the imprint is checked.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of John Silence — Physician Extraordinary a first edition?

A first edition of John Silence — Physician Extraordinary by Algernon Blackwood (Eveleigh Nash, London) is identified by: First edition: London, Eveleigh Nash, 1908.

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 precedence claim is confirmed: the UK Eveleigh Nash edition of 1908 is the true first.

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

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The common reprint tells are the Luce Boston 1909 first American (Boston imprint on the title page, different collation), later Nash reissues from the same setting, and the widely circulated 1920s–1930s reprints; any copy lacking the gilt swastika device at the lower front corner of a red-cloth board should be treated as a later binding or reprint until the imprint is checked.

I have a first edition of John Silence — Physician Extraordinary — 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.