Is My The Mask of Dimitrios a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: published London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939; octavo, 320 pages; publisher's red cloth lettered in black on the spine
• The first printing is genuinely scarce because much of the publisher's stock was destroyed when Hodder & Stoughton's warehouse was bombed in the Blitz, and only a handful of copies survive in the dust jacket
• No first-printing copyright-page wording is consistently documented in dealer descriptions, so the imprint, date, and binding carry the identification

How Hodder & Stoughton marked a first edition

• Pre-1940s: no consistent practice — first/later printing identification is unreliable and requires jacket/ad/binding/bibliographic analysis

Full Hodder & Stoughton 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?

True first is the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition, London, 1939. The first American edition, retitled A Coffin for Dimitrios (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1939, light gray to pale-green cloth stamped in red with red top edge, price present at the jacket flap), is heavily collected in its own right under the US title — but it is not the true first, and the retitling is a classic trap.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club tell documented for the UK edition; the US retitled Knopf edition and its later reprints are the usual point of confusion.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Mask of Dimitrios a first edition?

A first edition of The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (Hodder & Stoughton) is identified by: First edition, first printing: published London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1939; octavo, 320 pages; publisher's red cloth lettered in black on the spine.

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. True first is the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition, London, 1939.

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

No book-club tell documented for the UK edition; the US retitled Knopf edition and its later reprints are the usual point of confusion.

I have a first edition of The Mask of Dimitrios — 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.