Is My The Turn of the Screw a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The novella first appeared in book form within the two-story collection The Two Magics, published almost simultaneously in October 1898 by Macmillan and Co. in New York and William Heinemann in London, with the two printings textually very close
• The Heinemann London edition, limited to 1,500 copies including colonial and export copies, is bound in decorated blue cloth with four irises stamped in blind on the front panel, title stamped in gold on the front, spine lettered in gold, and the publisher's monogram blind-stamped on the rear panel; domestic copies have a title page printed in red and black and dated in Roman numerals
• The Macmillan New York edition, limited to 2,250 copies, is bound in maroon cloth with gilt spine lettering and a gilt top edge, collating 393 pages of text followed by three pages of advertisements for other James titles

How Macmillan and Co. marked a first edition

• FIRM SPLIT FIRST — this is the master rule. 'Macmillan' is not one publisher. The London parent was founded in 1843 by Daniel and Alexander Macmillan; George Edward Brett opened the New York office in 1869; in 1896 the f…
• US Macmillan, pre-late-1800s: no printing statement was used. Treat the book as a first only when the date on the TITLE page matches the last (latest) date on the copyright page. A title-page year EARLIER than the latest…

Full Macmillan and Co. first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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?

Bibliographers differ on strict priority between the near-simultaneous October 1898 Macmillan (New York) and Heinemann (London) printings of The Two Magics; both are treated as first editions of their respective countries, and no definitive consensus fixes which imprint actually reached the public first.P-036128

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Twentieth-century single-volume "Turn of the Screw only" editions separate the novella from its original companion piece, Covering End, and are later, differently structured books unconnected to the 1898 Two Magics first edition.P-036129

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Turn of the Screw a first edition?

A first edition of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Macmillan and Co.) is identified by: The novella first appeared in book form within the two-story collection The Two Magics, published almost simultaneously in October 1898 by Macmillan and Co.

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. Bibliographers differ on strict priority between the near-simultaneous October 1898 Macmillan (New York) and Heinemann (London) printings of The Two Magics; both are treated as first editions of their respective countries, and no definitive consensus fixes which imprint actually reached the public first.

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

Twentieth-century single-volume "Turn of the Screw only" editions separate the novella from its original companion piece, Covering End, and are later, differently structured books unconnected to the 1898 Two Magics first edition.

I have a first edition of The Turn of the Screw — 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.