Is My The Night Land a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Octavo; pp. [i-vi] vii [viii] ix [x] 11-583 [584: printer's imprint]. No statement of printing on the copyright page — the 1912 Nash sheets are identified by title leaf and collation alone
• Issued both with and without a 16-page undated publisher's catalogue bound in at the rear; no priority is established between the two states, so the absence of the catalogue does not disqualify a copy
• Publisher's cloth is recorded in more than one color: ABAA dealers catalogue red cloth and peach/orange cloth examples, in each case with the front panel stamped in gold and ruled in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel ruled in blind
• No priority has been established among the cloth colors
• Currey records a black-cloth copy as a presentation binding presumed special for the author rather than the trade state
• The dust jacket is almost never encountered — dealer copies are routinely offered without it — so no jacket points are reliably documented and none are asserted here

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?

Census claim CONFIRMED. Eveleigh Nash (London, 1912) is the true first and the only edition published in Hodgson's lifetime (d. 1918); no contemporaneous American edition exists, so there is no UK/US precedence contest. The first US book appearance is posthumous and came inside the Arkham House omnibus 'The House on the Borderland and Other Novels' (Sauk City, 1946, 3,014 copies, Hannes Bok jacket, with an introduction by H. C. Koenig and bibliography by A. Langley Searles). The first separate US hardcover is Hyperion Press (Westport, 1976), explicitly described as a reprint of the Nash edition. Both American issues are 'first thus' traps, not the first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. Reprint tells: the Arkham House 1946 omnibus carries its own title leaf and gathers four novels; the Hyperion Press 1976 reprint is bound in green boards with silver stamping and was issued without a jacket as issued. Any copy carrying the text but not the Eveleigh Nash 1912 title leaf and the 583-page collation is a reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Night Land a first edition?

A first edition of The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson (Eveleigh Nash, London) is identified by: [i-vi] vii [viii] ix [x] 11-583 [584: printer's imprint].

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. Census claim CONFIRMED.

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

No contemporary book-club issue is documented. Reprint tells: the Arkham House 1946 omnibus carries its own title leaf and gathers four novels; the Hyperion Press 1976 reprint is bound in green boards with silver stamping and was issued without a jacket as issued. Any copy carrying the text but not the Eveleigh Nash 1912 title leaf and the 583-page collation is a reprint.

I have a first edition of The Night Land — 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.