# Is "Under a Glass Bell" by Anaïs Nin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin (Gemor Press, 1944) 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. 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Gemor Press

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anaïs Nin |
| Publisher | Gemor Press |
| Year | 1944 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 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… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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; The Mohican; Je Suis le Plus Malade des Surréalistes; Rag Time; The Labyrinth; Birth. The 300-copy limitation statement and the 83-page collation are the operative points. Dealer descriptions do not record a signature as issued; signed examples encountered are author inscriptions/presentation copies rather than a limitation signing.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Under a Glass Bell* by Anaïs Nin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/under-a-glass-bell
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.