# Is "The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James" by M. R. James a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James by M. R. James (Edward Arnold & Co., London, 1931) 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). The census claim is confirmed on the essential point: the London Edward Arnold & Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Edward Arnold & Co., London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | M. R. James |
| Publisher | Edward Arnold & Co., London |
| Year | 1931 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 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) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Small octavo (approx. 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James* by M. R. James a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-collected-ghost-stories-of-m-r-james
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.