Is My Copy of The Gods of Pegāna a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London: Elkin Mathews, 1905; octavo, viii + 94 pp.; Dunsany's first book, issued on a commission basis (the author paid for publication and took a commission on copies sold)
• Illustrated with photogravure plates by S. H. Sime (eight recorded), each with its tissue guard — the guards should be present, and the photogravure process, not halftone, is what the 1905 issue carries
• Bound in paper-covered boards with a cloth/linen backstrip, the front board carrying Sime's drummer design with lettering
• Variant bindings are recorded and priority between them is not established in the sources consulted: Currey's binding (A) is gray paper boards over a white linen backstrip with the drummer stamped in blue; a variant in light-brown paper boards pictorially decorated in dark brown with a tan burlap backstrip lettered in black is also recorded
• There is no edition or printing statement and no number line — identification rests on the Elkin Mathews 1905 title page, the photogravure plates with guards, and the paper boards with cloth backstrip
• The frequently repeated statement that the first was printed without a table of contents or list of illustrations traces only to Wikipedia and is not treated as confirmed

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

UK only. Elkin Mathews, London, 1905 is the sole first edition; no American edition of 1905 is recorded, so there is no simultaneous-issue or UK-vs-US precedence question. Later Elkin Mathews printings and reissues, and 20th-century reprints, are the 'first thus' traps; they carry their own dates and imprints and are not the 1905 issue.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted; the 1905 first predates the American book-club era. The practical reprint tells are imprint-based: later Elkin Mathews printings and modern reprints/print-on-demand facsimiles carry their own imprints and dates and lack the photogravure plates with tissue guards in original paper boards with a cloth backstrip.P-043954

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Gods of Pegāna a first edition?

A first edition of The Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany) (Elkin Mathews) is identified by: London: Elkin Mathews, 1905; octavo, viii + 94 pp.; Dunsany's first book, issued on a commission basis (the author paid for publication and took a commission on copies sold).

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). UK only.

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

No book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted; the 1905 first predates the American book-club era. The practical reprint tells are imprint-based: later Elkin Mathews printings and modern reprints/print-on-demand facsimiles carry their own imprints and dates and lack the photogravure plates with tissue guards in original paper boards with a cloth backstrip.

I have a first edition of The Gods of Pegāna — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.