Is My The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing carries NO edition statement on the title page ('sans mention d'édition')
• The diagnostic first-state text error is on page 400, which reads 'fatal rocher' where it should read 'fatal nocher'; this was corrected from the second edition onward, so a copy without the error is not the first printing regardless of what the wrapper claims
• Collation is 12mo (roughly 171-188 x 108-120 mm), 520 pages plus preliminary leaves, with a half-title; issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers, and also found in publisher's red percaline with black fleurons and white spine lettering and a beige linen title cartouche on the front cover
• Beware the cover: some genuine 1910 copies carry a fictitious edition number on the front wrapper or in a Leroux works-list facing the title, reading e.g. '17me Édition' or '22e édition' — these are publisher's puffery and do NOT disqualify a copy
• The page 400 reading is what settles it; later
• copies that otherwise look identical carry different cover numbers and the corrected text

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 US 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?

The French original has clear precedence and the census claim is confirmed: Paris, Pierre Lafitte & Cie, March 1910, preceded only by the serial run in Le Gaulois, 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910. Both 1911 English editions are collected and both used Alexander Teixeira de Mattos's translation: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis/New York (first US — with André Castaigne plates, one single-page and four double-page inserted colour plates, and 'Press of Braunworth & Co., Bookbinders and Printers, Brooklyn, N.Y.' on the copyright page) and Mills & Boon, London (first UK). Priority between Bobbs-Merrill and Mills & Boon could NOT be established — sources describe them as concurrent — so do not assert either as 'the' English first. Note two traps for the unwary: the Teixeira de Mattos translation is heavily abridged (roughly 100 pages cut from Leroux), and the Castaigne plates never appeared in the French first despite Castaigne being French.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The dominant reprint trap is the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition, New York, 1925, issued for the Universal/Lon Chaney silent film: it retains the 1911 Bobbs-Merrill copyright date on the verso, which is exactly what fools buyers into thinking it a first. Identify it by the Grosset & Dunlap imprint on title page and spine, black-and-white film stills on coated stock, red cloth with black lettering, and the wraparound photoplay jacket art. Later Lafitte printings are told by combining the cover edition number with the corrected page 400 reading.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) a first edition?

A first edition of The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) by Gaston Leroux (Pierre Lafitte & Cie, Paris) is identified by: The first printing carries NO edition statement on the title page ('sans mention d'édition').

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 French original has clear precedence and the census claim is confirmed: Paris, Pierre Lafitte & Cie, March 1910, preceded only by the serial run in Le Gaulois, 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910.

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

The dominant reprint trap is the Grosset & Dunlap photoplay edition, New York, 1925, issued for the Universal/Lon Chaney silent film: it retains the 1911 Bobbs-Merrill copyright date on the verso, which is exactly what fools buyers into thinking it a first. Identify it by the Grosset & Dunlap imprint on title page and spine, black-and-white film stills on coated stock, red cloth with black lettering, and the wraparound photoplay jacket art. Later Lafitte printings are told by combining the cover

I have a first edition of The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) — 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.