Is My The Dunwich Horror and Others a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Arkham House placed no printing statement on the first printing, and later printings are explicitly noted — dealer catalogues routinely describe copies as "second printing," "stated third impression," "corrected seventh printing" or "stated corrected ninth printing" — so the absence of any printing or impression notice is the baseline test
• The first-printing book is black cloth with the spine stamped in gilt, and is reported to have been bound without head- and tailbands, bands being present on later bindings; this headband point is repeated across the collecting literature but we found it stated in only one independent reference for this title, so treat it as supporting rather than decisive
• The Lee Brown Coye jacket exists in two states: the first-state priced jacket carries biographical matter at the rear flap, while the second-state jacket carries a higher price at the front flap and substitutes an "Other Books" list at the rear flap
• Arkham exhausted first-state jackets before it exhausted first-printing sheets, so genuine first-printing books are legitimately found in second-state jackets — judge the book first and the jacket second
• A text point at page 19, line 1 reads "Elio" and was corrected to "Eliot" beginning with the fourth printing, which makes it a first-through-third-printing marker, not proof of a first printing on its own
• The print run is reported at 3,133 copies

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?

Arkham House (Sauk City), 1963, is the true first edition of this collection; no UK or other edition precedes it. It should be understood as a "first thus" rather than a first appearance of any text: the stories had already been printed in the pulps and in Arkham's earlier Lovecraft omnibuses — The Outsider and Others (1939) and Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1943) hold the first Arkham book appearances. What is genuinely first here is this selection and August Derleth's introduction to it. The census note calling it "first of the definitive core-canon selection" is fair as far as it goes, but the definitive text is precisely what the 1963 printing does not contain.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the Arkham House volume is documented; the reprint traps are Arkham's own. Ten further printings followed through 2000, each stated, with reported runs between roughly 2,090 and 4,978 copies. From the corrected sixth printing in the mid-1980s the text is S. T. Joshi's revision — sources give the year as both 1984 and 1985, and we could not resolve that discrepancy — and Derleth's introduction is replaced by Joshi's "A Note on the Texts" together with Robert Bloch's "Heritage of Horror"; a copy carrying either of those pieces is never a first printing. Facsimile jackets for this title are openly sold by reproduction specialists, so a bright, unworn Coye jacket on a 1963 book warrants close inspection.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Dunwich Horror and Others a first edition?

A first edition of The Dunwich Horror and Others by H. P. Lovecraft (Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin) is identified by: Arkham House placed no printing statement on the first printing, and later printings are explicitly noted — dealer catalogues routinely describe copies as "second printing," "stated third impression," "corrected seventh printing" or "stated corrected ninth printing" — so the absence of any printing or impression notice is the baseline test.

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. Arkham House (Sauk City), 1963, is the true first edition of this collection; no UK or other edition precedes it.

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

No book-club edition of the Arkham House volume is documented; the reprint traps are Arkham's own. Ten further printings followed through 2000, each stated, with reported runs between roughly 2,090 and 4,978 copies. From the corrected sixth printing in the mid-1980s the text is S. T. Joshi's revision — sources give the year as both 1984 and 1985, and we could not resolve that discrepancy — and Derleth's introduction is replaced by Joshi's "A Note on the Texts" together with Robert Bloch's "Herit

I have a first edition of The Dunwich Horror and Others — 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.