Is My The Devil Rides Out a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Hutchinson published the first edition in London in December 1934 (the text had been serialised in abridged form in the Daily Mail from 31 October to 22 December that year)
• The title page is undated, so genuine firsts are catalogued "[1934]" — and the decisive point is that the first printing carries no "Thousand" statement
• Hutchinson added a Thousand designation to every reprint (10th Thousand and 15th Thousand both circa 1935, later the printed pricet, 29th, 49th, 136th and 147th Thousand issues), so any Thousand statement rules a copy out
• Collation is 329 pages plus five pages of advertising and a forty-page Hutchinson catalogue dated Spring 1935 bound at the rear; some copies omit the catalogue, and a recorded variant has page 329 — the leaf on which Wheatley invites readers' opinions of this type of story — excised
• Bound in red cloth lettered in black, printed by The Gainsborough Press, with illustrated endpapers designed by Diana Younger together with Joan and Dennis Wheatley; the pictorial dust wrapper is also Diana Younger's work and should be present with the price at the spine
• Crown 8vo

How Hutchinson & Co., London marked a first edition

• Late 1880s to about 1920: many firsts of this era carry no printing statement at all, so dating relies on the title-page date and on dated rear advertisement catalogs; later printings note reprints. Number lines do not a…
• About 1920 to about 1960: 'First published (year)' or 'First published in Great Britain (year)' on the copyright page; a first impression lists no reprints, while later printings add dated 'Reprinted' or 'New impression'…

Full Hutchinson & Co., London 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. 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 American 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 Hutchinson London edition of December 1934 is the true first everywhere and the only collected first state. No contemporary American edition was published — the novel did not reach the United States until paperback issues decades later — so there is no UK-versus-US precedence question for this title, unlike most of Wheatley's contemporaries.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The working reprint tell is the Hutchinson "Thousand" statement; note that reprint dust wrappers closely resemble the first-edition wrapper (one dealer cataloguing a 10th Thousand explicitly notes its wrapper "is similar to the printed pricet edition"), so the wrapper alone proves nothing — confirm the absence of a Thousand designation. Later cheap editions are reset at a reduced published price and list titles Wheatley wrote after 1934 in the rear advertisements.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Devil Rides Out a first edition?

A first edition of The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley (Hutchinson & Co., London) is identified by: Hutchinson published the first edition in London in December 1934 (the text had been serialised in abridged form in the Daily Mail from 31 October to 22 December that year).

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 Hutchinson London edition of December 1934 is the true first everywhere and the only collected first state.

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

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted. The working reprint tell is the Hutchinson "Thousand" statement; note that reprint dust wrappers closely resemble the first-edition wrapper (one dealer cataloguing a 10th Thousand explicitly notes its wrapper "is similar to the printed pricet edition"), so the wrapper alone proves nothing — confirm the absence of a Thousand designation. Later cheap editions are reset at a reduced published price and list titles Wheatley wrote after 1934

I have a first edition of The Devil Rides Out — 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.