Is My Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The 1907 first edition contains 50 mounted colour plates by Dulac (the standard collation counts the colour frontispiece within the 50; i.e. frontispiece plus 49 further plates), the plates mounted on grey/brown/dark stock and protected by captioned printed tissue guards, with cover and title-page designs also by Dulac; text is Laurence Housman's retelling, collated [2], xvi, 133 pp., 4to
• Two 1907 issues exist: the signed DELUXE LIMITED of 350 numbered copies in publisher's full gilt-stamped vellum, top edge gilt, other edges uncut, with a limitation leaf hand-signed and numbered by Dulac, issued with ties and a slipcase (Hughey 16
• 3); and the ordinary TRADE first in publisher's pictorial orange cloth gilt (Hughey 16a) carrying the same 50 plates
• For this gift-book the signed/numbered vellum limited is the prized form
• Identification only — no valuation

How Hodder & Stoughton marked a first edition

• Pre-1940s: no consistent practice — first/later printing identification is unreliable and requires jacket/ad/binding/bibliographic analysis

Full Hodder & Stoughton 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 1907 issue. The London (Hodder & Stoughton) and New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) issues were published simultaneously in 1907, described in the trade as identical apart from the publisher's imprint, so — contrary to a "London-primary" assumption — this title behaves like the Rackham simultaneous UK/US pairs rather than a British-only first; neither imprint has clear textual precedence. Within either imprint, the signed/numbered full-vellum limited of 350 copies (Hughey 16) is the prized collecting form, with the trade cloth issue (Hughey 16a) the ordinary first. Standard references: White, Edmund Dulac (p. 200, no. 3); Hughey 16 / 16a.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Hodder & Stoughton trade reprints reuse the 1907 title-page date and are hard to distinguish by date alone; watch for reduced plate counts (later, cheaper printings drop plates), thinner/whiter paper, plates printed on the page rather than separately mounted with tissue guards, and cheaper cloth or later binding settings. A genuine first shows all 50 mounted colour plates with printed tissue guards present. The vellum limited is authenticated by the signed/numbered limitation leaf (X of 350 in Dulac's hand); a vellum-look copy lacking the signed limitation leaf is not the deluxe issue. No confirmed contemporaneous book-club issue.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman) a first edition?

A first edition of Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman) by Edmund Dulac (Hodder & Stoughton) is identified by: The 1907 first edition contains 50 mounted colour plates by Dulac (the standard collation counts the colour frontispiece within the 50; i.e.

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 1907 issue.

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

Later Hodder & Stoughton trade reprints reuse the 1907 title-page date and are hard to distinguish by date alone; watch for reduced plate counts (later, cheaper printings drop plates), thinner/whiter paper, plates printed on the page rather than separately mounted with tissue guards, and cheaper cloth or later binding settings. A genuine first shows all 50 mounted colour plates with printed tissue guards present. The vellum limited is authenticated by the signed/numbered limitation leaf (X of 35

I have a first edition of Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman) — 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.