Is My The Dark Country a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The copyright page of the first printing is recorded by L. W. Currey (ABAA/ILAB) as reading "First Edition, October 1982." The printing was limited to 1,000 copies in two states drawn from the same sheets: roughly 900 trade copies, and 100 numbered copies carrying a publisher's printed label signed by Etchison and artist J. K. Potter affixed to the recto of the first blank
• Octavo, black cloth, in a J. K. Potter pictorial jacket
• Potter also supplied the black-and-white interior illustrations, and Ramsey Campbell contributed the introduction
• Collation is recorded as ix + 207 pages
• The book is Etchison's first collection (preceded only by film novelizations) and gathers sixteen stories including the title piece, winner of the 1981 World Fantasy Award and 1981 British Fantasy Award
• Standard references: Barron (ed.), Horror Literature 4-106

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. 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?

The census claim stands and needs no correction: Scream/Press, Santa Cruz, California, 1982 is the true first, in both its trade and signed/numbered states. There is no prior or competing UK, US, or original-language edition — this is the first appearance of the collection, and the volume marked Scream/Press's founding. The individual stories had prior magazine and anthology appearances, but that does not displace the book. Later trade-paperback reprints of the collection are "first thus" only.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented for this small-press title, and none would be expected at a 1,000-copy limitation. The recurring confusions are instead: (1) later paperback reprints of the collection being taken for the first; and (2) the 100 signed/numbered copies being described as a distinct edition when they are the same first printing distinguished only by the tipped-in signed label.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Dark Country a first edition?

A first edition of The Dark Country by Dennis Etchison (Scream/Press, Santa Cruz) is identified by: The copyright page of the first printing is recorded by L.

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 stands and needs no correction: Scream/Press, Santa Cruz, California, 1982 is the true first, in both its trade and signed/numbered states.

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

No book-club edition is documented for this small-press title, and none would be expected at a 1,000-copy limitation. The recurring confusions are instead: (1) later paperback reprints of the collection being taken for the first; and (2) the 100 signed/numbered copies being described as a distinct edition when they are the same first printing distinguished only by the tipped-in signed label.

I have a first edition of The Dark Country — 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.