Is My Slan a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin, 1946, in a single printing of 4,051 copies — the figure given both in August Derleth's own Arkham House: The First 20 Years, 1939-1959 and in L.W. Currey's cataloguing
• No statement of edition or printing appears in the book (Currey: "No statement of printing appears in this book"), so identification rests on the Arkham House imprint and 1946 date, 216 pp., black cloth with spine lettering and device stamped in gilt, and the pictorial jacket by Robert F. Hubbell with the price present at the front flap
• Because there was only one Arkham printing, there is no later Arkham state to exclude
• ISFDB carries the jacket credit with a middle-initial variant (Robert E./F. Hubbell), so the initial is unsettled although the attribution to Hubbell is not

How Arkham House marked a first edition

• Pre-mid-1960s: a true first generally shows the SAME year on the title page and the copyright page (and there were typically no reprints to confuse it)
• Arkham did not number lines; the Frank Utpatel-designed colophon/device (introduced 1944) appears at the rear — reprints, when they occurred, were noted there

Full Arkham House first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
3. Verify this is the British true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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 1946 is the true first book edition and van Vogt's first book, from the Astounding Science-Fiction serial (Sept-Dec 1940) — census confirmed on publisher and year. The census note's claim that this is "one of only two SF novels Arkham House ever issued" is NOT supported: Derleth's own Arkham bibliography calls Slan "the first Arkham House science-fiction novel," and The Torch by Jack Bechdolt (1948), sometimes cited as the second, was a Prime Press book, not an Arkham House one. First British edition: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1953 (black cloth, silver titling, 247 pp.). First-thus trap: Simon & Schuster, New York, 1951 is the first major-trade-house edition and carries a substantially revised text (chapter 18 heavily rewritten) — a landmark issue, but not the first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue and no second printing of the Arkham House edition are documented in the sources consulted; the Arkham text had one printing only. The reprint tells that matter are downstream: the 1951 Simon & Schuster revised text and the later paperback lines, all of which carry their own publishers' imprints on the title page rather than Arkham's.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Slan a first edition?

A first edition of Slan by A. E. van Vogt (Arkham House) is identified by: Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin, 1946, in a single printing of 4,051 copies — the figure given both in August Derleth's own Arkham House: The First 20 Years, 1939-1959 and in L.W.

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 1946 is the true first book edition and van Vogt's first book, from the Astounding Science-Fiction serial (Sept-Dec 1940) — census confirmed on publisher and year.

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

No book-club issue and no second printing of the Arkham House edition are documented in the sources consulted; the Arkham text had one printing only. The reprint tells that matter are downstream: the 1951 Simon & Schuster revised text and the later paperback lines, all of which carry their own publishers' imprints on the title page rather than Arkham's.

I have a first edition of Slan — 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.