Is My No Orchids for Miss Blandish a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First published London: Jarrolds, May 1939; the first impression collates 255 pp. followed by a 16-page publisher's catalogue (advertisements) bound in at the rear, in a plain cloth lettered in black at the spine, about 7½ inches tall
• Dealer descriptions of the cloth conflict on shade — one ABAA-level catalogue calls it grey with black titles, another light blue lettered in black — so treat the shade as unsettled and rely on the collation plus the absence of an impression statement
• Jarrolds stated its reprints on the verso by cumulative "thousand" counts rather than by printing number: a the printed pricet thousand appeared in August 1940, and 56th and 367th thousand impressions are recorded, so any "thousand" line rules out the first impression
• Jarrolds reprinted the hardcover again in 1942 and 1947
• First-impression copies are genuinely scarce because the remaining stock is reported to have been destroyed when the publisher's warehouse was bombed during the Blitz
• The jacket is the pictorial Jarrolds wrapper with the price present at the flap; facsimile jackets are common on this title

How Jarrolds marked a first edition

• Late 1880s to about 1920: many firsts of this era carry no printing statement at all, so dating relies on the title-page date and on dated rear advertisement catalogs; later printings note reprints. Number lines do not a…
• About 1920 to about 1960: 'First published (year)' or 'First published in Great Britain (year)' on the copyright page; a first impression lists no reprints, while later printings add dated 'Reprinted' or 'New impression'…

Full Jarrolds first-edition guide →

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 American 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 census claim stands: Jarrolds, London, 1939 is the true first, and no other edition competes for precedence. The first American edition is Howell, Soskin, New York, 1942 — publisher's turquoise/greenish-blue cloth, spine lettered in red, 254 pp. — and is collected as such, but it is a textual trap rather than a rival first: the Bear Alley Chase bibliography and the Orwell Society both record the October 1942 Jarrolds text (and the Howell, Soskin 1942 issue keyed to it) as the revised, expurgated version derived from the Chase/Robert Nesbitt stage adaptation, not the 1939 novel. A collector wanting the text George Orwell wrote about in 1944 must have the Jarrolds 1939.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the 1939 Jarrolds first is documented. The dominant traps are "first thus" reprints of altered texts: the wartime Jarrolds play-based edition (Oct 1942, often undated), and the 1961 rewrite issued as London: Panther and New York: Avon, for which the publisher's own note states the text was rewritten and revised by the author because the original's outmoded dialogue and 1938 atmosphere would not suit a new generation. Later Corgi and Panther paperbacks reprint the revised text. Any copy whose text differs from the 1939 setting, or that carries a "thousand" statement, is not the first impression.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of No Orchids for Miss Blandish a first edition?

A first edition of No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase (Jarrolds) is identified by: First published London: Jarrolds, May 1939; the first impression collates 255 pp.

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 census claim stands: Jarrolds, London, 1939 is the true first, and no other edition competes for precedence.

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

No book-club issue of the 1939 Jarrolds first is documented. The dominant traps are "first thus" reprints of altered texts: the wartime Jarrolds play-based edition (Oct 1942, often undated), and the 1961 rewrite issued as London: Panther and New York: Avon, for which the publisher's own note states the text was rewritten and revised by the author because the original's outmoded dialogue and 1938 atmosphere would not suit a new generation. Later Corgi and Panther paperbacks reprint the revised te

I have a first edition of No Orchids for Miss Blandish — 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.