Is My Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Octavo, collating pp. [1-2] [i-ii] iii [iv-viii] [1-2] 3-240 [241: blank] [242: printer's imprint] [243-244: blank], with a fly leaf preceding the credit leaf
• Bound in original pictorial greenish-black sateen-like cloth, front and spine panels stamped in orange, green and gold, top edge gilt
• The text is printed throughout in orange and black, and there are two inserted plates with drawings by Keichu Takenouche
• The copyright page carries an April 1904 publication date
• The pictorial dust jacket — light green paper printed in dark green ink — is rare; refer to it only as a priced jacket / price present at the flap where applicable
• Currey cites this book as BAL 7940 (issue B), so the Bibliography of American Literature records more than one issue, and I could NOT establish from the sources consulted which BAL issue has priority — a collector should resolve the A/B question against BAL itself before calling a copy the first issue

How Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York marked a first edition

• Merger-lineage window (Hurd & Houghton 1864 → Houghton, Osgood & Co. 1878–1880 → Houghton, Mifflin & Co. from 1880): still no 'First Edition' wording; identify by title-page date matching the copyright date, by the earli…
• Late-19th to mid-20th century (c.1880s–1950s): the operative tell is the title page. Houghton Mifflin almost invariably printed the year of first publication, in Arabic numerals, on the title page of a first printing and…

Full Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the American 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 true first is the American edition: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, April 1904. Hearn wrote in English from Japan, working from old Japanese texts, so this is the original-language first — there is no earlier Japanese-language edition to displace it. The London edition, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1904, is separately collected as the first English edition and is found in green cloth titled and ruled in gilt, top edge gilt. The census claim that the London Kegan Paul issue was made up from American sheets is NOT confirmed — I could not trace it to a primary dealer or bibliographic source, and an uncorroborated report points the other way (that the publisher's Introduction, prompted by the February 1904 outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, is absent from the London first edition and appears there only in a later issue). Do not publish the American-sheets claim as fact.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue documented for 1904. The principal traps are later fine-press and reprint editions, not book clubs: the Limited Editions Club issue printed in Tokyo by The Shimbi Shoin, 1932, in Japanese brocade boards with a silk wrap-case, limited to 1500 copies signed by illustrator Yasumasa Fujita with an introduction by Oscar Lewis, is frequently mistaken for an early edition; a German translation was issued by Rütten & Loening, Frankfurt am Main, 1909, illustrated by Emil Orlik. Neither is a first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things a first edition?

A first edition of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn (Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York) is identified by: [1-2] [i-ii] iii [iv-viii] [1-2] 3-240 [241: blank] [242: printer's imprint] [243-244: blank], with a fly leaf preceding the credit leaf.

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The true first is the American edition: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, April 1904.

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

No book-club issue documented for 1904. The principal traps are later fine-press and reprint editions, not book clubs: the Limited Editions Club issue printed in Tokyo by The Shimbi Shoin, 1932, in Japanese brocade boards with a silk wrap-case, limited to 1500 copies signed by illustrator Yasumasa Fujita with an introduction by Oscar Lewis, is frequently mistaken for an early edition; a German translation was issued by Rütten & Loening, Frankfurt am Main, 1909, illustrated by Emil Orlik. Neither

I have a first edition of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things — 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.