# Is "The Gods of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1918) is identified by: The true first is Chicago, A. US original — the McClurg Chicago 1918 edition precedes all others and is the true first in book form.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918, issued 28 September 1918
- Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published September, 1918' AND carries the printer credit 'W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO'; reference practice (First Edition Points) treats a copy with the McClurg 1918 title page but WITHOUT the W. F. Hall imprint as a later state, so the Hall credit is the decisive point rather than the 'Published September' line alone
- Binding: publisher's red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black with the front panel also stamped in blind
- Octavo, 348 pp., with an inserted sepia frontispiece by Frank E. Schoonover repeating the jacket art
- First printing 10,000 copies
- McClurg printed at least twice, the later printing dated 1919
- Publisher imprint reads A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Publisher | A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago |
| Year | 1918 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918, issued 28 September 1918 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first is Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1918, issued 28 September 1918. Copyright page of the first printing reads 'Published September, 1918' AND carries the printer credit 'W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO'; reference practice (First Edition Points) treats a copy with the McClurg 1918 title page but WITHOUT the W. F. Hall imprint as a later state, so the Hall credit is the decisive point rather than the 'Published September' line alone. Binding: publisher's red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in black with the front panel also stamped in blind. Octavo, 348 pp., with an inserted sepia frontispiece by Frank E. Schoonover repeating the jacket art. First printing 10,000 copies; McClurg printed at least twice, the later printing dated 1919. Jacket by Schoonover; the first-issue jacket is a priced jacket, with the price present at the spine panel (identification only).

## Is this the true first?
US original — the McClurg Chicago 1918 edition precedes all others and is the true first in book form. The first UK edition is separately collected and should be named: Methuen & Co., London, 1920, with 'First published in Great Britain in 1920' stated on the copyright page, in green cloth lettered black. The text first appeared serially in All-Story, January–May 1913, so the 1918 McClurg is the first book appearance, not the first publication of the text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Grosset & Dunlap reprinted the title from 1919 onward: the G&D imprint appears at the spine foot and on the title page, and the early Burroughs G&D reprints are bound in the house tan-grey cloth with darker lettering rather than McClurg's red cloth — cloth colour plus imprint is the fastest tell. Separately, later McClurg printings (through 1919) retain the McClurg imprint but lack the W. F. Hall printing credit; these are the copies most often mis-sold as firsts.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Gods of Mars* by Edgar Rice Burroughs a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-gods-of-mars
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.