Is My The Opener of the Way a First Edition?

The points of issue

• There is one Arkham printing only — 2,065 copies — so any copy bearing the Arkham House, Sauk City, 1945 imprint is the first printing; there is no printing statement to look for and none should be present
• The book is bound in original black cloth, collating xi + 309 pages, and the jacket, illustrated and designed by Ronald Clyne, should be present and priced at the front flap
• This is Bloch's first book; the volume gathers 22 tales, opening with "By Way of Introduction" and including "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" and "The Shambler from the Stars," most having appeared in Weird Tales during the 1930s and 1940s

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. 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 British 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?

Arkham House (Sauk City), 1945, is the true first and the author's first book; nothing precedes it in any language. The census claim is confirmed on precedence, and its reading of the 1974 Neville Spearman (Jersey/London) volume as the only other hardcover is broadly right for the period — that Spearman edition is the first British hardcover, a legitimate separate collectable but not a rival first. A two-volume Panther paperback followed in 1976. The Arkham text went unreprinted in the United States for decades; a Valancourt Books reprint with a new Ramsey Campbell introduction was announced for late 2024, which is a "first thus" for that introduction only.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented, and Arkham never reprinted the title, so there is no later Arkham printing to confuse with the first. The reissues to know are the Spearman 1974 British hardcover — black cloth with gilt spine titling and the same 309-page collation, externally close enough to the Arkham book that the title page must be read — the Panther paperbacks of 1976, an Italian translation of 1991 with the stories reordered, and the 1994 omnibus The Early Fears, which absorbs the contents without Bloch's introduction. Facsimile jackets for Arkham House titles are sold openly by reproduction specialists.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Opener of the Way a first edition?

A first edition of The Opener of the Way by Robert Bloch (Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin) is identified by: There is one Arkham printing only — 2,065 copies — so any copy bearing the Arkham House, Sauk City, 1945 imprint is the first printing; there is no printing statement to look for and none should be present.

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. Arkham House (Sauk City), 1945, is the true first and the author's first book; nothing precedes it in any language.

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

No book-club edition is documented, and Arkham never reprinted the title, so there is no later Arkham printing to confuse with the first. The reissues to know are the Spearman 1974 British hardcover — black cloth with gilt spine titling and the same 309-page collation, externally close enough to the Arkham book that the title page must be read — the Panther paperbacks of 1976, an Italian translation of 1991 with the stories reordered, and the 1994 omnibus The Early Fears, which absorbs the conte

I have a first edition of The Opener of the Way — 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.