Is My Night's Black Agents a First Edition?

The points of issue

• L. W. Currey records "no statement of printing" for this book, and Arkham printed it once — 3,084 copies — so an Arkham House, Sauk City, 1947 imprint carrying no impression notice is the first printing
• The binding is publisher's black cloth, octavo, collating x + 237 pages, and the jacket is by Ronald Clyne and should be priced at the front flap; a price-clipped flap is common on surviving copies and is a condition matter, not an issue point
• This is Leiber's first book: ten stories, three of them first published here, most of the rest drawn from Unknown and Weird Tales, with "Smoke Ghost" present and the last two pieces the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales, including the novella "Adept's Gambit."

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 British 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?

Arkham House (Sauk City), 1947, is the true first, and the census is right that this is Leiber's debut collection containing "Smoke Ghost." The census note naming Kaye & Ward as the British publisher is wrong and is corrected here: the first British hardcover is Neville Spearman (Jersey), 1975, ISBN 0-85978-013-9, octavo in boards with jacket art by David L. Fletcher, its text offset from the 1947 Arkham setting. The Spearman is collectable as the UK first but is not a rival to the Arkham book, which precedes it by twenty-eight years.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the Arkham volume is documented, and Arkham did not reprint it. The expansions are the real traps: the Berkley paperback of 1978 adds "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" and "A Bit of the Dark World," and the Gregg Press hardcover of 1980 — sometimes called the definitive version — adds a Richard Gid Powers foreword on top of the Berkley contents. A copy containing either added story is not the Arkham first, whatever its binding suggests. Facsimile jackets for Arkham House titles are commercially available.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Night's Black Agents a first edition?

A first edition of Night's Black Agents by Fritz Leiber (Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin) is identified by: Currey records "no statement of printing" for this book, and Arkham printed it once — 3,084 copies — so an Arkham House, Sauk City, 1947 imprint carrying no impression notice 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. Arkham House (Sauk City), 1947, is the true first, and the census is right that this is Leiber's debut collection containing "Smoke Ghost." The census note naming Kaye & Ward as the British publisher is wrong and is corrected here: the first British hardcover is Neville Spearman (Jersey), 1975, ISBN 0-85978-013-9, octavo in boards with jacket art by David L.

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

No book-club edition of the Arkham volume is documented, and Arkham did not reprint it. The expansions are the real traps: the Berkley paperback of 1978 adds "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" and "A Bit of the Dark World," and the Gregg Press hardcover of 1980 — sometimes called the definitive version — adds a Richard Gid Powers foreword on top of the Berkley contents. A copy containing either added story is not the Arkham first, whatever its binding suggests. Facsimile jackets for Arkham House ti

I have a first edition of Night's Black Agents — 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.