Is My Rogue Male a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first impression: publisher's purple cloth with spine lettered in silver, title page printed in red and black within a ruled border
• Dealer descriptions of the cloth vary between purple and black — the purple dye is prone to fading and sunning, so spine color alone is not a reliable test
• The first-issue dust jacket (design by Enid Marx, showing the nameless narrator sighting a dictator through a rifle scope) is with its printed price at the flap and carries no second-impression notation on the front flap; second-impression copies retain the printed price but add the impression notice to the flap
• Jacketed true firsts are of legendary scarcity — experienced dealers report never having handled one

How Chatto & Windus marked a first edition

• The sometimes-present statement is 'Published by Chatto & Windus' WITHOUT a date, plus the printer's imprint (often R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, in the early-mid 20th c.). Treat the claimed 'First published in Great Britain…

Full Chatto & Windus 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 UK 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?

True first is the UK Chatto & Windus edition, London, 1939. The first American edition followed the same year: Little, Brown and Company (an Atlantic Monthly Press book), Boston, 1939, in green cloth, 280 pages. Both are collected; the Chatto edition holds precedence. Wartime Services Library reissue wrappers on later Chatto impressions are a 'first thus' trap.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Second impression (also 1939) carries a second-impression notation on the jacket's front flap; later Chatto impressions appeared in blue boards and in red-white-and-blue Services Library wrappers.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Rogue Male a first edition?

A first edition of Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household (Chatto & Windus) is identified by: First edition, first impression: publisher's purple cloth with spine lettered in silver, title page printed in red and black within a ruled border.

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. True first is the UK Chatto & Windus edition, London, 1939.

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

Second impression (also 1939) carries a second-impression notation on the jacket's front flap; later Chatto impressions appeared in blue boards and in red-white-and-blue Services Library wrappers.

I have a first edition of Rogue Male — 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.