Is My Under a Glass Bell a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Gemor Press, New York, 1944, limited to 300 copies — the type hand-set by Nin and the book designed and printed by her at her own Gemor Press on Macdougal Street
• Illustrated with line engravings on copper by Ian Hugo (Hugh Guiler, Nin's husband), the cover and the engravings printed in relief directly from the original plates
• Narrow 8vo, 83 pp, in pictorial/decorated boards, issued without a dust jacket
• Contents are a foreword and eight stories: House Boat
• The Mouse
• Under a Glass Bell

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. 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. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

Census claim CONFIRMED: this is a US-only original with no earlier UK or foreign-language edition — Gemor Press, New York, 1944 is the first appearance. Two "first thus" traps follow. (1) Editions Poetry London, London, 1947 is the first English publication but is not a first appearance: it gathers House of Incest and Winter of Artifice together with Under a Glass Bell in a single volume, with Ian Hugo line drawings. (2) The E.P. Dutton, New York, 1948 reissue drops the foreword and the prose poem, adds four further stories, and omits the Ian Hugo engravings entirely — the absence of Hugo's work is the quickest tell that a copy is the Dutton, not the Gemor.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue. The tell that actually matters is the Gemor Press SECOND edition of the same year — 1944, limited to 800 copies, collating 86 pp against the first's 83 pp, also with the Hugo engravings. It carries the identical Gemor Press 1944 imprint and is routinely offered as simply "Gemor Press, 1944," so the limitation statement (300 vs 800) and the page count must be checked before a copy is called a first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Under a Glass Bell a first edition?

A first edition of Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin (Gemor Press) is identified by: Gemor Press, New York, 1944, limited to 300 copies — the type hand-set by Nin and the book designed and printed by her at her own Gemor Press on Macdougal Street.

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. Census claim CONFIRMED: this is a US-only original with no earlier UK or foreign-language edition — Gemor Press, New York, 1944 is the first appearance.

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

No book-club issue. The tell that actually matters is the Gemor Press SECOND edition of the same year — 1944, limited to 800 copies, collating 86 pp against the first's 83 pp, also with the Hugo engravings. It carries the identical Gemor Press 1944 imprint and is routinely offered as simply "Gemor Press, 1944," so the limitation statement (300 vs 800) and the page count must be checked before a copy is called a first.

I have a first edition of Under a Glass Bell — 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.