# Is "Noctuary" by Thomas Ligotti a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Noctuary by Thomas Ligotti (Robinson Publishing, London, 1994) is identified by: The UK Robinson first is a hardcover in black boards lettered in gilt at the spine, collating xiii + 194 pages, ISBN 1-85487-233-8, in a pictorial jacket designed and illustrated by David Wood (orange and black artwork, black and yellow lettering); a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, unclipped, is what dealers describe on first-issue copies. The census claim is corrected: the true first is the UK edition — Robinson Publishing, London, January 1994 — not Carroll & Graf.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The UK Robinson first is a hardcover in black boards lettered in gilt at the spine, collating xiii + 194 pages, ISBN 1-85487-233-8, in a pictorial jacket designed and illustrated by David Wood (orange and black artwork, black and yellow lettering); a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, unclipped, is what dealers describe on first-issue copies
- The near-simultaneous American issue from Carroll & Graf, New York is bound in black cloth with the same collation and the same Wood jacket art, ISBN 0-7867-0003-3, and its copyright page reads 'First Carroll & Graf edition 1994' above a complete number line reading 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 — a line no longer descending to 1 indicates a later Carroll & Graf printing
- L. W. Currey catalogues the Robinson book as the first edition and the Carroll & Graf book separately as the 'first edition, U.S. issue,' and the two appeared within weeks of one another in early 1994
- The collection gathers twenty-six stories and a novella in three sections (Studies in Shadow, Discourse on Blackness, Notebook of the Night), each with its own introductory essay
- Publisher imprint reads Robinson Publishing, London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Ligotti |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing, London |
| Year | 1994 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The UK Robinson first is a hardcover in black boards lettered in gilt at the spine, collating xiii + 194 pages, ISBN 1-85487-233-8, in a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The UK Robinson first is a hardcover in black boards lettered in gilt at the spine, collating xiii + 194 pages, ISBN 1-85487-233-8, in a pictorial jacket designed and illustrated by David Wood (orange and black artwork, black and yellow lettering); a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap, unclipped, is what dealers describe on first-issue copies. The near-simultaneous American issue from Carroll & Graf, New York is bound in black cloth with the same collation and the same Wood jacket art, ISBN 0-7867-0003-3, and its copyright page reads 'First Carroll & Graf edition 1994' above a complete number line reading 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 — a line no longer descending to 1 indicates a later Carroll & Graf printing. L. W. Currey catalogues the Robinson book as the first edition and the Carroll & Graf book separately as the 'first edition, U.S. issue,' and the two appeared within weeks of one another in early 1994. The collection gathers twenty-six stories and a novella in three sections (Studies in Shadow, Discourse on Blackness, Notebook of the Night), each with its own introductory essay.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is corrected: the true first is the UK edition — Robinson Publishing, London, January 1994 — not Carroll & Graf. The Carroll & Graf, New York issue followed in February 1994 and is catalogued by L. W. Currey as the 'first edition, U.S. issue,' with dealer descriptions stating explicitly that the Robinson preceded the American edition. Both are collected and both should be named: the Robinson has bibliographic priority, while American Ligotti collectors generally pursue the Carroll & Graf, which is the issue with a documented copyright-page statement and number line. Ligotti's earlier collections carry their own precedence traps (small-press originals preceding the later Carroll & Graf / Robinson pairs), so this UK-first pattern must not be generalised across his bibliography.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition of either 1994 issue is documented. The reliable later-state tell on the American issue is the number line: a first printing runs 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, and any broken line is a subsequent printing. Later hardcover reprints of the collection from other imprints are reprints, not firsts, and the text has since been reissued in paperback under other imprints — none of which are first editions.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Noctuary* by Thomas Ligotti a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/noctuary
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.