Is My The Lost Valley and Other Stories a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The title page reads in full 'The Lost Valley: and other stories / by Algernon Blackwood; with eight illustrations by W. Graham Robertson' — the illustration statement is the single most useful identification point, and a complete first must contain all eight Robertson plates, the first of them a tissue-guarded frontispiece
• Collation is 328 pages, octavo (c
• 20 cm), in original dark green cloth with the spine stamped in gilt and lettering in black to the front board
• As with Blackwood's other Nash titles there is no printed edition statement, so identification rests on the 1910 title-page date, the Nash imprint (Fawside House, London), the green cloth, and the complete plate count
• A copy lacking one or more plates is a defective first, not a later edition — the plates were not dropped from a variant issue

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 census claim is confirmed: London, Eveleigh Nash, 1910 is the true first, and it carries the first appearance in print of 'The Wendigo,' the volume's most reprinted story. The collection gathers ten tales: 'The Lost Valley,' 'The Wendigo,' 'Old Clothes,' 'Perspective,' 'The Terror of the Twins,' 'The Man from the Gods,' 'The Man Who Played Upon the Leaf,' 'The Price of Wiggins's Orgy,' 'Carlton's Drive,' and 'The Eccentricity of Simon Parnacute.' No contemporary American edition is recorded, so the Nash issue stands alone for precedence.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented. The dominant trap is the modern reprint of 'The Wendigo' as a standalone title, and the Midnight House omnibus 'The Lost Valley / The Wolves of God' (2005) — both are 'first thus' at best and share no sheets with the 1910 Nash volume. Any copy without the Robertson illustration statement on the title page is not the Nash first edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Lost Valley and Other Stories a first edition?

A first edition of The Lost Valley and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood (Eveleigh Nash, London) is identified by: The title page reads in full 'The Lost Valley: and other stories / by Algernon Blackwood; with eight illustrations by W.

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 is confirmed: London, Eveleigh Nash, 1910 is the true first, and it carries the first appearance in print of 'The Wendigo,' the volume's most reprinted story.

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

No book-club issue is documented. The dominant trap is the modern reprint of 'The Wendigo' as a standalone title, and the Midnight House omnibus 'The Lost Valley / The Wolves of God' (2005) — both are 'first thus' at best and share no sheets with the 1910 Nash volume. Any copy without the Robertson illustration statement on the title page is not the Nash first edition.

I have a first edition of The Lost Valley and Other Stories — 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.