Is My The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James a First Edition?

The points of issue

• 5.5 x 8.25 in.), 647 pp., bound in original black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (the gilt is commonly faded on surviving copies)
• THE CRITICAL POINT IS THE PRINTING STATEMENT, NOT THE DATE: the first was published April 1931 and a reprint followed in May 1931, so a copy with a 1931 title page can still be a second impression — the first carries only the 'First published April 1931' line, while the May reprint adds a 'Reprinted May 1931' line to the printing history
• Contents are thirty stories spanning 1893-1929 plus the essay 'Stories I Have Tried to Write'; four tales James had written but not published ('The Experiment,' 'The Malice of Inanimate Objects,' 'A Vignette,' 'The Fenstanton Witch') are absent from the 1931 text and their presence marks a later edition
• Issued in a dust jacket; original jackets are seldom found and a commercial facsimile of the Arnold jacket exists for this title, so any jacket should be examined for facsimile tells (paper stock, printing method, edge wear consistency) rather than accepted on appearance

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

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 American 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?

The census claim is confirmed on the essential point: the London Edward Arnold & Co. edition of 1931 is the first collected edition and the standard James text. The New York issue from Longmans, Green & Co., also 1931, is collected as the first American; sources agree it does not precede the Arnold and describe it as following or accompanying the London publication, but the exact relationship (separate American printing versus British sheets with a cancel title) could not be settled from the sources consulted, so that specific characterisation is left open. For collecting purposes: Arnold London 1931 = true first; Longmans, Green New York 1931 = first American.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No dedicated book-club issue of the 1931 Arnold volume is documented, but the May 1931 reprint and the further Arnold reprints (a 1934 impression is commonly offered) are the practical traps — all are dated 1931 or later on the title page and are distinguished only by the printing history on the copyright page. Later 'Collected Ghost Stories' under other imprints, including the Oxford University Press edition of 2011 edited by Darryl Jones (33 stories, adding the four omitted tales), are separate editions with new editorial matter, not reprints of the Arnold first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James a first edition?

A first edition of The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James by M. R. James (Edward Arnold & Co., London) is identified by: 5.5 x 8.25 in.), 647 pp., bound in original black cloth with the spine lettered in gilt (the gilt is commonly faded on surviving copies).

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. The census claim is confirmed on the essential point: the London Edward Arnold & Co.

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

No dedicated book-club issue of the 1931 Arnold volume is documented, but the May 1931 reprint and the further Arnold reprints (a 1934 impression is commonly offered) are the practical traps — all are dated 1931 or later on the title page and are distinguished only by the printing history on the copyright page. Later 'Collected Ghost Stories' under other imprints, including the Oxford University Press edition of 2011 edited by Darryl Jones (33 stories, adding the four omitted tales), are separat

I have a first edition of The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James — 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.