Is My 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
• Note: the frequently repeated claim that the first was printed without a table of contents or list of illustrations traces only to Wikipedia in this pass and is NOT treated as confirmed here

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 — the census claim is confirmed. 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.

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 — 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.