Is My The Jewel of Seven Stars a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London, William Heinemann, 1903: 337 pages, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in blind and gold, with dealer descriptions consistently noting gilt star decoration on the front cover
• The decisive point is TEXTUAL rather than typographic — the first edition contains Chapter XVI, 'Powers — Old and New,' and Stoker's original grim ending, in which the resurrection experiment fails and Margaret and Malcolm's companions all die; the passage 'Margaret had put her hands before her face, but the glassy stare of her eyes through her fingers was more terrible than an open glare' belongs to that ending
• Any copy lacking Chapter XVI, or ending with Queen Tera dead and Margaret and Malcolm marrying, carries the revised text and cannot be the 1903 first
• Collate for Chapter XVI before examining anything else
• No number line or printing code is present; this is a 1903 English trade novel

How William Heinemann, London marked a first edition

• 1890-1921: year of publication printed on the TITLE PAGE of first editions; on later printings the title-page date was removed and a notice added to the copyright page (a title-page year is the first-printing tell for th…
• First printing = statement present AND no list of subsequent impressions

Full William Heinemann, London 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. 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.
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?

UK first and true first: William Heinemann, London, 1903, 337 pp. — census claim confirmed, and it carries the original ending. US first: Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1904, in dark blue cloth stamped on spine and front panel in light green and silver (silver stars, green-lettered title), with 'Published February, 1904' on the copyright page; sources give the pagination variously as 310 or 311 pp. The census claim that the Harper 1904 retains the original ending is confirmed — necessarily so, since the revision post-dates it by eight years — and it likewise retains Chapter XVI; both editions are collected. Prepublication issues toward a US edition were deposited for copyright by Doubleday, Page & Company in December 1902 and January 1903, but Doubleday never published it, and Harper 1904 is the US first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The chief later-issue trap is the abridged reissue: William Rider & Son, London, 1912, 307 pp., which deletes Chapter XVI and substitutes the happy ending. It is a 'first thus' at best, and it is the text most modern reprints — and the Project Gutenberg file — carry; it is unclear whether Stoker himself made the changes. The excised chapter was later printed separately as 'The Bridal of Death' in a 1990 collection, and modern editions advertising 'both endings' are of course reprints. No book-club issue is documented for the 1903 Heinemann edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Jewel of Seven Stars a first edition?

A first edition of The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker (William Heinemann, London) is identified by: London, William Heinemann, 1903: 337 pages, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in blind and gold, with dealer descriptions consistently noting gilt star decoration on the front cover.

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 first and true first: William Heinemann, London, 1903, 337 pp.

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

The chief later-issue trap is the abridged reissue: William Rider & Son, London, 1912, 307 pp., which deletes Chapter XVI and substitutes the happy ending. It is a 'first thus' at best, and it is the text most modern reprints — and the Project Gutenberg file — carry; it is unclear whether Stoker himself made the changes. The excised chapter was later printed separately as 'The Bridal of Death' in a 1990 collection, and modern editions advertising 'both endings' are of course reprints. No book-cl

I have a first edition of The Jewel of Seven Stars — 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.