Is My The Hour of the Oxrun Dead a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Doubleday's practice for this period is well documented and consistent across the ILAB and Quill & Brush publisher guides: the first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page, and that statement is removed on later printings — so its absence on a trade copy indicates a reprint
• The first edition is the Doubleday hardcover, Garden City, October 1977, 182 pages, ISBN 0-385-13173-9, in a priced jacket (price present at the front flap, unclipped)
• No first-state text error, cancel leaf, or binding variant is recorded for this title in any source consulted; identification rests on the copyright-page statement together with the trade-issue physical characteristics listed under the book-club note
• This is the first of the Oxrun Station "quiet horror" cycle, the first three volumes of which Doubleday issued in hardcover

How Doubleday & Company, Garden City marked a first edition

• Mid-1958–early 1959: numerical gutter code (1–52) on the last page of text indicating the WEEK of printing. Early 1959–1987: added a LETTER code before the week code indicating the YEAR.

Full Doubleday & Company, Garden City first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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 census claim stands: Doubleday, Garden City, 1977 (October) is the true first. No UK or original-language edition precedes it. The important precedence trap is format, not country — Popular Library issued a mass-market paperback that is dated 1979 in the bibliographic record consulted (some marketplace listings misdate it to 1977, but no source places it ahead of the Doubleday hardcover), and Tor reprinted it in paperback in 1987. Both are reprints, not the first. A modern reissue also exists under ISBN 978-1-63789-003-5 and is "first thus" only.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Doubleday's own book clubs (Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction Book Club) make this a high-risk title. The documented tells: no price on the jacket flap; a five-digit code, usually black numerals in a white block, on the jacket; smaller trim, thinner paper, cheaper binding, and a smaller typeface than the trade issue; and a small blind stamp — an impressed square, circle, or dot — on the lower rear board. Critically, a Doubleday club copy can still carry a "First Edition" statement on the copyright page: the statement alone does not clear a copy, and a club copy remains a club copy regardless of what the copyright page says. Club jackets are also sometimes married onto trade copies to replace lost jackets, so check book and jacket independently.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Hour of the Oxrun Dead a first edition?

A first edition of The Hour of the Oxrun Dead by Charles L. Grant (Doubleday & Company, Garden City) is identified by: Doubleday's practice for this period is well documented and consistent across the ILAB and Quill & Brush publisher guides: the first printing states "First Edition" on the copyright page, and that statement is removed on later printings — so its absence on a trade copy indicates a reprint.

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 census claim stands: Doubleday, Garden City, 1977 (October) is the true first.

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

Doubleday's own book clubs (Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction Book Club) make this a high-risk title. The documented tells: no price on the jacket flap; a five-digit code, usually black numerals in a white block, on the jacket; smaller trim, thinner paper, cheaper binding, and a smaller typeface than the trade issue; and a small blind stamp — an impressed square, circle, or dot — on the lower rear board. Critically, a Doubleday club copy can still carry a "First

I have a first edition of The Hour of the Oxrun Dead — 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.