Is My The Rats a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the New English Library hardback of 1974, issued in a pictorial dust jacket; the jacket should be priced at the front flap (unclipped), as price-clipping is common on this title
• No printing statement or number line is documented for the NEL hardback, so identification rests on the NEL imprint, the 1974 date on the title/copyright leaf, and hardback format — there is no copyright-page 'first edition' declaration to look for
• The hardback run was small and directed largely at lending libraries, so ex-library copies with stamps, pockets and reinforced jackets are disproportionately common and the trade-condition copy is the scarce state
• Board colour should NOT be used as a point: dealer catalogues describe the boards variously as brown, black and green with gilt spine lettering, a conflict that most likely reflects later NEL and Hodder hardback reissues being catalogued alongside the 1974 first
• Herbert's first novel

How New English Library, London marked a first edition

• Modern era (number line): later Hodder/Sceptre titles carry a printer's-key number line (lowest digit = printing; '1' present = first); number lines are a general post-~1970 trade practice — the exact year Hodder adopted…
• First printing = era-appropriate statement present AND no later-impression/printing notation; for pre-1940s books rely on points/bibliography, not the copyright page

Full New English Library, London 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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?

UK precedence: the NEL London 1974 hardback precedes the NEL paperback of the same year. ABA/ILAB/PBFA dealers catalogue the two states separately and explicitly — the hardback as the 'true first printing' and the 1974 paperback as the 'first paperback edition' — and review/reference sources likewise record NEL as having published the first edition in hardback. Both 1974 states are collected, but only the hardback is the first edition. No US hardcover of the period is documented in the sources consulted; the American appearance was a Signet/New American Library mass-market paperback, a later state and not the first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The 1974 NEL paperback and its reprints declare their own paperback history on the printer's page (a first paperback issue reads 'First NEL paperback edition November 1974'; a later printing adds a further 'This new edition...' line) — any such line rules the copy out as the hardback first. Later hardback reissues (Hodder, and the Centipede Press 2015 Rats Trilogy) are 'first thus,' not the 1974 first. No UK book-club edition of the 1974 hardback is documented in the sources consulted.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Rats a first edition?

A first edition of The Rats by James Herbert (New English Library, London) is identified by: The true first is the New English Library hardback of 1974, issued in a pictorial dust jacket; the jacket should be priced at the front flap (unclipped), as price-clipping is common on this title.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). UK precedence: the NEL London 1974 hardback precedes the NEL paperback of the same year.

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

The 1974 NEL paperback and its reprints declare their own paperback history on the printer's page (a first paperback issue reads 'First NEL paperback edition November 1974'; a later printing adds a further 'This new edition...' line) — any such line rules the copy out as the hardback first. Later hardback reissues (Hodder, and the Centipede Press 2015 Rats Trilogy) are 'first thus,' not the 1974 first. No UK book-club edition of the 1974 hardback is documented in the sources consulted.

I have a first edition of The Rats — 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.