Is My Marginalia a First Edition?

The points of issue

• There is no statement of printing on the copyright page
• Arkham House printed a single run of 2,035 copies, so any copy of the 1944 book is the first printing
• Collation is x, 377, [1] pp., bound in publisher's black cloth with gilt lettering to the spine
• The dust jacket reproduces Virgil Finlay's illustration for Lovecraft's 'The Shunned House' (Weird Tales, October 1937); a first-state jacket is unclipped with the price present at the flap
• Contents include eight essays, juvenilia, fragments, Lovecraft's revisions of Zealia Bishop and Hazel Heald, the Houdini ghost-written piece, reproductions of Lovecraft's drawings (including his plan of Arkham), and appreciations closing with Winfield Townley Scott's memoir
• Cited as Joshi 19 (Lovecraft), 8 (Arkham) — Derleth's own label calls it 'the 8th A.H. book.'

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. 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.
4. Verify this is the US 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?

US only. The Arkham House (Sauk City) 1944 printing is the sole first edition — no UK edition and no original-language issue elsewhere. It is the third of the core Arkham Lovecraft omnibus trio, following The Outsider and Others (Arkham House, 1939) and Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943). 'First thus' trap: much of the contents was later redistributed through Arkham's own Lovecraft volumes — notably The Curse of Yig (Arkham House, 1953), which reprints the Bishop revisions first collected here — and those are reprints, not states of this book.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue and no Arkham reprint of Marginalia is recorded; the title was printed once, in 2,035 copies, and never re-set by Arkham. Because there is no printing statement to read, the tells that matter are the black cloth/gilt spine binding and the Finlay 'Shunned House' jacket — a later Lovecraft collection reprinting this material (e.g. The Curse of Yig, 1953) is a different book, not a later state of this one.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Marginalia a first edition?

A first edition of Marginalia by H. P. Lovecraft (collected by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei) (Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin) is identified by: There is no statement of printing on the copyright page; Arkham House printed a single run of 2,035 copies, so any copy of the 1944 book is the first printing.

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. US only.

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

No book-club issue and no Arkham reprint of Marginalia is recorded; the title was printed once, in 2,035 copies, and never re-set by Arkham. Because there is no printing statement to read, the tells that matter are the black cloth/gilt spine binding and the Finlay 'Shunned House' jacket — a later Lovecraft collection reprinting this material (e.g. The Curse of Yig, 1953) is a different book, not a later state of this one.

I have a first edition of Marginalia — 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.