# Is "The Thinking Machine" by Jacques Futrelle a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Thinking Machine by Jacques Futrelle (Dodd, Mead & Company, 1907) is identified by: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1907, 8vo, 342 pages, illustrated by The Kinneys; the collection introduces Professor Augustus S. The US Dodd, Mead (New York) 1907 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1907, 8vo, 342 pages, illustrated by The Kinneys; the collection introduces Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, "The Thinking Machine", and includes "The Problem of Cell 13"
- Binding of the American first is black cloth with red titles and decorations (independently described by two dealers)
- Important caution on the copyright page: per the Quill & Brush publisher reference, Dodd, Mead placed no statement on first editions prior to 1976 AND often did not note subsequent printings — so a blank copyright page does not prove a first, and the absence-of-statement test that works for other houses fails here
- The reliable identification is therefore the 1907 date on the title page together with the Dodd, Mead imprint on the title page and spine, the Kinney illustrations, and the black cloth with red stamping; reprints issued under other imprints carry their own publisher's name on the spine and title page
- The title is a Haycraft–Queen Cornerstone and a Queen's Quorum selection
- Publisher imprint reads Dodd, Mead & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jacques Futrelle |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead & Company |
| Year | 1907 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1907, 8vo, 342 pages, illustrated by The Kinneys; the collection introduces Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1907, 8vo, 342 pages, illustrated by The Kinneys; the collection introduces Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, "The Thinking Machine", and includes "The Problem of Cell 13". Binding of the American first is black cloth with red titles and decorations (independently described by two dealers). Important caution on the copyright page: per the Quill & Brush publisher reference, Dodd, Mead placed no statement on first editions prior to 1976 AND often did not note subsequent printings — so a blank copyright page does not prove a first, and the absence-of-statement test that works for other houses fails here. The reliable identification is therefore the 1907 date on the title page together with the Dodd, Mead imprint on the title page and spine, the Kinney illustrations, and the black cloth with red stamping; reprints issued under other imprints carry their own publisher's name on the spine and title page. The title is a Haycraft–Queen Cornerstone and a Queen's Quorum selection.

## Is this the true first?
The US Dodd, Mead (New York) 1907 edition is the true first. The UK edition — Chapman & Hall, Limited, London, 1907, in original red pictorial cloth lettered in gilt, also illustrated by The Kinneys — appeared later the same year and is catalogued by dealers as the first UK edition, with the American issue preceding it; both are collected, the Dodd, Mead as the true first and the Chapman & Hall as the first British. The census claim that Dodd, Mead 1907 is the ONLY edition is wrong and is corrected here: the same-year Chapman & Hall London issue exists and, because the two are only months apart and share the year, it is a genuine precedence trap for cataloguers. Per Quill & Brush, Chapman & Hall either stated "First published [Year]" or made no statement on firsts and noted subsequent printings. The stories had appeared earlier in periodical form, which is not a book edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1907 Dodd, Mead printing. Because Dodd, Mead often did not note later printings, the practical later-issue tell is the imprint itself rather than a copyright-page notice: any copy bearing a reprint publisher's name on the spine or title page is not the first, and the black cloth with red titles plus the 1907 Dodd, Mead title page should be present together. Do not rely on a bare copyright page as evidence of first-printing status for this publisher and period.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Thinking Machine* by Jacques Futrelle a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-thinking-machine
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.