Is My Titus Alone a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1959 — first edition, first impression, the third book of the Gormenghast sequence
• The primary point is the copyright page, which reads 'FIRST PUBLISHED 1959' with no further impression statement
• Octavo (about 220 x 140 x 20 mm), 223 pages, with the initial and terminal blanks and the half-title present — a complete copy retains all of them
• Bound in the publisher's red cloth with the spine titled in gilt
• Issued in the pictorial dust jacket designed by Peake himself, with his illustrations in the text; look for the price present at the front flap (unclipped)

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 American 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?

Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1959 is the true first — census claim CONFIRMED. The first American edition is Weybright & Talley, New York, 1967 (blackish-blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, 284 pages plus two terminal blank leaves, greyish-violet endpapers, title-page vignette of a chained crown with crow and ten line drawings in the text), and is collected as the first US. The census note on the text also holds and is the point that matters: the 1959 first prints a text heavily cut by its editor — whole chapters omitted and references to modern technology such as helicopters and cars removed. Langdon Jones re-edited the novel from Peake's manuscripts in 1970, working from material supplied by Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore, and every edition from 1970 onward carries the Jones text as standard. So the 1959 issue is the collectible object but the corrupt text, and the 1970 restored text is a 'first thus,' not a first edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The sharpest trap for this title is the 1970 Langdon Jones revised text, which appeared under the SAME Eyre & Spottiswoode imprint (issued alongside Penguin): those copies are dated 1970, are 'first thus,' and are not the first edition — the shared imprint fools buyers who check the publisher but not the date. Penguin and Ballantine paperbacks, the Weybright & Talley and Overlook reprints, and the omnibus Gormenghast Novels / Gormenghast Trilogy volumes (including those with Anthony Burgess and Quentin Crisp introductions) are all reprints. Trilogy sets are frequently made up from mixed printings — check each volume's copyright page individually. No 1959 book-club issue is documented in the sources consulted.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Titus Alone a first edition?

A first edition of Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake (Eyre & Spottiswoode) is identified by: Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1959 — first edition, first impression, the third book of the Gormenghast sequence.

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. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1959 is the true first — census claim CONFIRMED.

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

The sharpest trap for this title is the 1970 Langdon Jones revised text, which appeared under the SAME Eyre & Spottiswoode imprint (issued alongside Penguin): those copies are dated 1970, are 'first thus,' and are not the first edition — the shared imprint fools buyers who check the publisher but not the date. Penguin and Ballantine paperbacks, the Weybright & Talley and Overlook reprints, and the omnibus Gormenghast Novels / Gormenghast Trilogy volumes (including those with Anthony Burgess and

I have a first edition of Titus Alone — 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.