Is My The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first impression: issued by Methuen in June 1913 (recorded by dealers as 26 June 1913), 308 pages, bound in original red cloth stamped and lettered in gilt on the upper board and spine
• The terminal publisher's material is the working point: the first impression carries 8 pages of publisher's advertisements dated Spring 1913 and a 32-page publisher's catalogue dated May 1913 bound in at the rear
• Dealer descriptions are not unanimous on the terminal matter — at least one catalogues a copy with a rear catalogue dated July 1912 — so treat the advertisement/catalogue dating as corroborative rather than absolute, and check it together with the 1913 title-page date and the absence of any later impression statement on the verso
• Beware the Methuen colonial issue, which is dated 1913 and offered by some sellers as a first edition but was printed for the colonial market and is not the first English impression

How Methuen & Co. Ltd marked a first edition

• Since 1905: state "First published in [Year]" or "First published in Great Britain [Year]" on the copyright page of firsts, with later printings noted

Full Methuen & Co. Ltd 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 edition: Methuen & Co., London, June 1913, under the title 'The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu', collecting stories serialised from October 1912 to June 1913. Both editions are collected. The first American edition is McBride, Nast & Company, New York, 1913, retitled 'The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu' and published several months later (recorded variously as September and October 1913) — so the retitling, not a date statement, is the fastest way to tell the two apart. Some secondary accounts name Cassell as the first book publisher; that appears to be a conflation with the Cassell magazine in which the stories were serialised, and no dealer or catalogue record supports a Cassell first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for the 1913 printings. The reprint field is dense: Methuen reissued the title continuously into the 1930s in red cloth closely resembling the first, and those later impressions are identified by the impression statement on the title-page verso and by later-dated or absent terminal advertisements. The Methuen colonial issue and the later Dover and other paperback reprints of the American 'Insidious' text are the other common substitutes.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu a first edition?

A first edition of The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer (Methuen & Co. Ltd) is identified by: First edition, first impression: issued by Methuen in June 1913 (recorded by dealers as 26 June 1913), 308 pages, bound in original red cloth stamped and lettered in gilt on the upper board and 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 edition: Methuen & Co., London, June 1913, under the title 'The Mystery of Dr.

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

No book-club issue is documented for the 1913 printings. The reprint field is dense: Methuen reissued the title continuously into the 1930s in red cloth closely resembling the first, and those later impressions are identified by the impression statement on the title-page verso and by later-dated or absent terminal advertisements. The Methuen colonial issue and the later Dover and other paperback reprints of the American 'Insidious' text are the other common substitutes.

I have a first edition of The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu — 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.