Is My The French Powder Mystery a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The Frederick A. Stokes issue, New York, 1930: original red cloth, spine lettered and the outline of a bookend stamped in black, front board lettered in relief on a black bookend design, top edge stained red
• The copyright page reads 1930 and the title page carries the date in roman as MCMXXX. Collates xvi plus 316 pages with plans, 20 cm (Library of Congress, LCCN 30018208)
• Stokes used no 'First published' statement until the 1940s, so a 1930 Stokes first printing is identified by the ABSENCE of any later-printing or later-edition line on the copyright page — there is no number line and no printing code to read
• Jacket point, and the decisive one: the first-printing jacket is a priced jacket with the price present at the flap and does NOT carry 'second printing' along the lower edge of the front panel, and does NOT carry the line 'by the author of THE ROMAN HAT MYSTERY' at the top of the front panel
• A jacket bearing either of those is a second-printing jacket on a book otherwise identical

How Frederick A. Stokes Company marked a first edition

• 1881-1890 (White & Stokes; White, Stokes & Allen; Frederick A. Stokes & Brother): no first-edition statement. Date the book by the imprint name itself, which changed on a known schedule: 'White & Stokes' indicates 1881-1…

Full Frederick A. Stokes 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 US 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?

US precedes. Stokes, New York 1930 is the true first; the Victor Gollancz issue, London 1930 — black cloth lettered in red, carrying the full subtitle 'A Problem in Deduction', 319 pages — is the first UK edition and is collected as such, dealers describing it as 'first UK edition' rather than the first. Ellery Queen was the joint pseudonym of the American cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, and Stokes was the originating publisher. Census claim confirmed as to the true first. Month-level dating of the Gollancz was not established, but no source consulted places it ahead of the Stokes.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Triangle Books issued a New York reprint in 1941 from the same xvi + 316 page setting as the Stokes first but in a smaller 19 cm format (Library of Congress, LCCN 42010941) — a Triangle imprint is always a reprint and is the commonest copy mistaken for the first. Later reprints include Otto Penzler Books (1995, LCCN 94030952). A jacket with 'second printing' at the lower front panel, or a copyright page carrying any later-printing line, rules a copy out.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The French Powder Mystery a first edition?

A first edition of The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen (Frederick A. Stokes Company) is identified by: Stokes issue, New York, 1930: original red cloth, spine lettered and the outline of a bookend stamped in black, front board lettered in relief on a black bookend design, top edge stained red.

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). US precedes.

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

Triangle Books issued a New York reprint in 1941 from the same xvi + 316 page setting as the Stokes first but in a smaller 19 cm format (Library of Congress, LCCN 42010941) — a Triangle imprint is always a reprint and is the commonest copy mistaken for the first. Later reprints include Otto Penzler Books (1995, LCCN 94030952). A jacket with 'second printing' at the lower front panel, or a copyright page carrying any later-printing line, rules a copy out.

I have a first edition of The French Powder Mystery — 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.