# Is "The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (F. Tennyson Neely, 1895) is identified by: Tennyson Neely as part of "Neely's Prismatic Library" in 1895, bound in original pictorial green cloth, the front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, with a lizard emblem stamped on the front board. A separate British edition from Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, also dated 1895, is a distinct setting of type from a different publisher; the F.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by F. Tennyson Neely as part of "Neely's Prismatic Library" in 1895, bound in original pictorial green cloth, the front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, with a lizard emblem stamped on the front board
- Of three printings all dated 1895 on the title page, the true first is identified by the absence of an inserted frontispiece, a blank leaf at page [318], and sheets bulking to about 1.5 centimeters; later printings insert a frontispiece portrait of the author that the first printing lacks
- Collates small octavo, [1-2] [1-9] 10-316 [317: ad] [318: blank]
- Publisher imprint reads F. Tennyson Neely
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert W. Chambers |
| Publisher | F. Tennyson Neely |
| Year | 1895 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by F. Tennyson Neely as part of "Neely's Prismatic Library" in 1895, bound in original pictorial green cloth, the front and spine… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published by F. Tennyson Neely as part of "Neely's Prismatic Library" in 1895, bound in original pictorial green cloth, the front and spine panels stamped in brown, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, with a lizard emblem stamped on the front board. Of three printings all dated 1895 on the title page, the true first is identified by the absence of an inserted frontispiece, a blank leaf at page [318], and sheets bulking to about 1.5 centimeters; later printings insert a frontispiece portrait of the author that the first printing lacks. Collates small octavo, [1-2] [1-9] 10-316 [317: ad] [318: blank].

## Is this the true first?
A separate British edition from Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, also dated 1895, is a distinct setting of type from a different publisher; the F. Tennyson Neely printing described here is the original American first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The great majority of surviving copies are later 1895-dated printings with an inserted frontispiece; only the thinner, frontispiece-less printing with the blank leaf at page 318 is the true first issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The King in Yellow* by Robert W. Chambers a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-king-in-yellow
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.