Is My The Sword of Conan a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The copyright page of this title states 'First Printing' (copyright registered 1 April 1952); it is the second Gnome Conan volume
• The binding is magenta/maroon cloth lettered in black, with David Kyle's colour pictorial Map of the World of Conan in the Hyborean Age as endpapers front and rear, and the dust jacket is by David Kyle with the artist credited at the front flap and the price present at the flap on an unclipped copy
• Contents are 'The People of the Black Circle', 'The Slithering Shadow', 'The Pool of the Black One' and 'Red Nails', all from Weird Tales (1933, 1934, 1936), each preceded by a biographical paragraph drawn from Miller and Clark's 'An Informal Biography of Conan the Cimmerian'
• The Gnome Press bibliography records no variant boards, no variant jacket and no later printing for this title, which materially reduces the usual Gnome reprint risk
• Sources conflict on pagination (251 vs 219) and print run (5,000 vs 4,000), so neither figure should be used as an identification point

How Gnome Press, Inc. marked a first edition

• First editions generally STATE 'First Edition' on the copyright page — but this alone is NOT conclusive: in offset reprints Gnome sometimes left a prior publisher's 'First Edition' statement standing
• Confirm via binding measurements/bulk and priority dust-jacket points (rear-panel ad titles, jacket art state) documented title-by-title in the Gnome bibliography

Full Gnome Press, Inc. 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?

The Gnome Press first edition, New York, 1952, is the true first in book form; the constituent stories had appeared in Weird Tales in the 1930s, which is a magazine appearance, not a competing book edition. There is no UK or original-language precedence question — Howard wrote in English and no earlier or simultaneous British edition of this collection is recorded. The census claim is confirmed.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented for this title, and the Gnome Press bibliography lists no variants. The structural Gnome caveat still governs the imprint generally: with a single exception (The Carnelian Cube), Gnome never announced that it had reprinted a book and left the edition statement unchanged on the copyright page, and Greenberg bound only part of a run at a time, warehousing sheets and later binding them in whatever boards the printer had — eight second printings and one third printing are known across the imprint. Jacket back panels were updated to list the latest Gnome titles, so back-panel advertising is the customary cross-check. Later Lancer/Ace paperback recastings of the Conan canon are wholly different editions, not states of this book.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Sword of Conan a first edition?

A first edition of The Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard (Gnome Press, Inc.) is identified by: The copyright page of this title states 'First Printing' (copyright registered 1 April 1952); it is the second Gnome Conan volume.

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 Gnome Press first edition, New York, 1952, is the true first in book form; the constituent stories had appeared in Weird Tales in the 1930s, which is a magazine appearance, not a competing book edition.

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

No book-club edition is documented for this title, and the Gnome Press bibliography lists no variants. The structural Gnome caveat still governs the imprint generally: with a single exception (The Carnelian Cube), Gnome never announced that it had reprinted a book and left the edition statement unchanged on the copyright page, and Greenberg bound only part of a run at a time, warehousing sheets and later binding them in whatever boards the printer had — eight second printings and one third print

I have a first edition of The Sword of Conan — 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.