# Is "The Gods of Pegāna" by Lord Dunsany (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany) (Elkin Mathews, 1905) 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). UK only.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Elkin Mathews

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lord Dunsany (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany) |
| Publisher | Elkin Mathews |
| Year | 1905 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: Elkin Mathews, 1905; octavo, viii + 94 pp.; Dunsany's first book, issued on a commission basis (the author paid for publication and… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Gods of Pegāna* by Lord Dunsany (Edward J. M. D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-gods-of-peg-na
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.