Is My The Hill of Dreams a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The London Grant Richards issue is bound in brown buckram/cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and upper board, top edge gilt, white endpapers, and collates to 309 pages
• It carries a frontispiece by S. H. Sime, normally with its tissue guard present
• Dealers describing the first issue cite the absence of a publisher's catalogue at the rear and a list of the author's works running to page [311]; note that this point is not settled, as at least one dealer describes a copy with a 20-page advertising supplement dated 1907 bound in
• Treat the rear-advertisement question as open and verify the buckram, gilt, and Sime frontispiece points first

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. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the American 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?

The true first is the London edition: E. Grant Richards, 1907. Dana Estes & Company, Boston, issued the book in the United States in 1907 in red cloth, 309 pages, with the Sime frontispiece; sources consulted uniformly style the Estes a 'first American edition,' which places the Grant Richards ahead of it. The census hypothesis that the Estes issue was made up from imported English sheets is NOT documented in any source I could reach — the shared 309-page collation is consistent with shared sheets but is not proof, and this claim should not be published as fact.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue documented for the 1907 printings. The reprint traps are American: Albert & Charles Boni (1915), Frank Shay (1917), and the 1920s Alfred A. Knopf editions are all later reprints, not firsts. A 1915 account records that the Estes stock was exhausted and the book was reissued by a New York firm, so later US printings are common relative to the London first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Hill of Dreams a first edition?

A first edition of The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen (E. Grant Richards, London) is identified by: The London Grant Richards issue is bound in brown buckram/cloth with gilt lettering to the spine and upper board, top edge gilt, white endpapers, and collates to 309 pages.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The true first is the London edition: E.

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

No book-club issue documented for the 1907 printings. The reprint traps are American: Albert & Charles Boni (1915), Frank Shay (1917), and the 1920s Alfred A. Knopf editions are all later reprints, not firsts. A 1915 account records that the Estes stock was exhausted and the book was reissued by a New York firm, so later US printings are common relative to the London first.

I have a first edition of The Hill of Dreams — 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.