# Is "The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories" by Algernon Blackwood a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood (Eveleigh Nash, London, 1906) 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. The census claim is confirmed: the London Eveleigh Nash edition of 1906 is the true first and the only period edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Eveleigh Nash, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Algernon Blackwood |
| Publisher | Eveleigh Nash, London |
| Year | 1906 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 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… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories* by Algernon Blackwood a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-empty-house-and-other-ghost-stories
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.