# Is "Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman)" by Edmund Dulac a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman) by Edmund Dulac (Hodder & Stoughton, 1907) 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. True first is the 1907 issue.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Hodder & Stoughton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edmund Dulac |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year | 1907 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | The 1907 first edition contains 50 mounted colour plates by Dulac (the standard collation counts the colour frontispiece within the 50… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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; White p. 200, no. 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Stories from The Arabian Nights (text retold by Laurence Housman)* by Edmund Dulac a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/stories-from-the-arabian-nights
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.