Is My The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Octavo, collating pp. [i-ii] iii [iv] [1] 2-316, bound in original pictorial green cloth with the front panel stamped in black, red and white and the spine panel stamped in gold; the bottom edge is untrimmed
• The key ancillary point is a Nash publisher's catalogue dated 'Autumn 1906' bound in at the rear (recorded at 31 or 32 pages by different cataloguers)
• Eveleigh Nash carried no edition or printing statement on the copyright page of this title, so identification rests on the 1906 title-page date, the pictorial green cloth, and the Autumn 1906 catalogue rather than on a stated 'First Edition.' Standard references are Ashley, Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography, A.1.1
• Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 175
• Barron (ed.), Horror Literature 3-26
• Reginald 01383

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 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 census claim is confirmed: the London Eveleigh Nash edition of 1906 is the true first and the only period edition. This was Blackwood's first book, collecting ten stories; its reception (including Hilaire Belloc's notice in The Morning Post, 3 January 1907) prompted the second collection, The Listener (1907), which carried 'The Willows.' No contemporary American edition is recorded in the ABAA/ILAB dealer catalogues or the reference works consulted, so there is no US-vs-UK precedence question for this title.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1906 Nash edition. The reliable reprint tells are negative ones: absence of the Autumn 1906 rear catalogue combined with non-pictorial or rebound cloth points away from the first issue, and any copy carrying a later Nash date or a modern publisher's imprint (including the many twentieth-century and print-on-demand reissues of this public-domain text) is not the first. Copies bearing W. H. Smith circulating-library blindstamps or labels are period copies but are library issue, not a separate edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories a first edition?

A first edition of The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood (Eveleigh Nash, London) is identified by: [i-ii] iii [iv] [1] 2-316, bound in original pictorial green cloth with the front panel stamped in black, red and white and the spine panel stamped in gold; the bottom edge is untrimmed.

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 is confirmed: the London Eveleigh Nash edition of 1906 is the true first and the only period edition.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1906 Nash edition. The reliable reprint tells are negative ones: absence of the Autumn 1906 rear catalogue combined with non-pictorial or rebound cloth points away from the first issue, and any copy carrying a later Nash date or a modern publisher's imprint (including the many twentieth-century and print-on-demand reissues of this public-domain text) is not the first. Copies bearing W. H. Smith circulating-library blindstamps or labels are period copies b

I have a first edition of The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories — 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.