Is My The Dark Tunnel a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Dodd, Mead's pre-1976 practice is the governing point: the firm listed no additional printings on the copyright page of a first edition, and used no number line until 1976, so a first is identified by the absence of any later-printing notice, with 1944 present on both the title page and the copyright page
• Physically: octavo, 241 pp., bound in publisher's red cloth stamped in black; one ABAA dealer additionally records a stripe roughly a third of an inch across the top edge
• The dust jacket is pictorial and richly coloured, and a first-edition jacket is a priced jacket with the price present at the front flap — unclipped, unrestored jackets are very scarce
• This is Millar's first book, published under his real name years before the Ross Macdonald pseudonym, and it is a wartime WWII espionage thriller rather than a Lew Archer title

How Dodd, Mead & Company marked a first edition

• Prior to 1976: firsts have NO additional printings listed on the copyright page (no number line, no later-printing notice).
• Late 1976 onward: a sequence of numbers on the copyright page with '1' present indicates the first printing.

Full Dodd, Mead & Company 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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 is correct: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1944 is the true first, and it is Millar's true debut — the book most often missing from an otherwise complete Ross Macdonald run. No contemporaneous UK edition is documented in the sources consulted, so there is no UK-vs-US precedence question to resolve here and no second edition to name as co-first. The later retitlings are firsts thus only: a paperback reprint carrying the subtitle "The story of a homosexual spy" is recorded, and in 1955 the novel was reissued as I Die Slowly (The Dark Tunnel) under the Lion Library imprint, LL 52. Both dates rest on single sources and should be cited as reported rather than as settled.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the 1944 Dodd, Mead first is documented in the sources consulted. The two practical traps on this title are not club editions at all: first, facsimile dust jackets, which are so common that most copies offered in the trade carry one — a jacket should be examined for modern paper and printing before it is accepted as original; second, the retitled reprints (I Die Slowly), which are frequently listed under the original title and can be mistaken for it. Ex-library copies with stamps, spine labels, and price-clipped or pasted-down flaps are also widespread.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Dark Tunnel a first edition?

A first edition of The Dark Tunnel by Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald) (Dodd, Mead & Company) is identified by: Dodd, Mead's pre-1976 practice is the governing point: the firm listed no additional printings on the copyright page of a first edition, and used no number line until 1976, so a first is identified by the absence of any later-printing notice, with 1944 present on both the title page and the copyright page.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The census claim is correct: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1944 is the true first, and it is Millar's true debut — the book most often missing from an otherwise complete Ross Macdonald run.

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

No book-club issue of the 1944 Dodd, Mead first is documented in the sources consulted. The two practical traps on this title are not club editions at all: first, facsimile dust jackets, which are so common that most copies offered in the trade carry one — a jacket should be examined for modern paper and printing before it is accepted as original; second, the retitled reprints (I Die Slowly), which are frequently listed under the original title and can be mistaken for it. Ex-library copies with

I have a first edition of The Dark Tunnel — 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.