# Is "We Are for the Dark" by Robert Aickman & Elizabeth Jane Howard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of We Are for the Dark by Robert Aickman & Elizabeth Jane Howard (Jonathan Cape, London, 1951) is identified by: Jonathan Cape, London, 1951 — subtitled 'Six Ghost Stories', and Robert Aickman's first book. The Cape 1951 London edition is the true first and, on present evidence, the only contemporaneous edition — no US edition of the collection was published at the time, so no UK-vs-US precedence question arises.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Jonathan Cape, London, 1951 — subtitled 'Six Ghost Stories', and Robert Aickman's first book
- Octavo, 285 pp., bound in full maroon (burgundy) cloth with the spine titles stamped in silver, issued in a pictorial jacket
- Cape used no number line; identification rests on the Cape imprint, the 1951 date on the title page, and the absence of any reprint or impression line on the copyright page
- The defining textual point is that the six stories are NOT individually attributed — no story in the 1951 book is credited to either author; a copy that assigns stories to Aickman or Howard is not the Cape first
- Jacket should be present with the price present at the flap; the jacket is scarce and clipping is common
- Publisher imprint reads Jonathan Cape, London
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Aickman & Elizabeth Jane Howard |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape, London |
| Year | 1951 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Jonathan Cape, London, 1951 — subtitled 'Six Ghost Stories', and Robert Aickman's first book |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Jonathan Cape, London, 1951 — subtitled 'Six Ghost Stories', and Robert Aickman's first book. Octavo, 285 pp., bound in full maroon (burgundy) cloth with the spine titles stamped in silver, issued in a pictorial jacket. Cape used no number line; identification rests on the Cape imprint, the 1951 date on the title page, and the absence of any reprint or impression line on the copyright page. The defining textual point is that the six stories are NOT individually attributed — no story in the 1951 book is credited to either author; a copy that assigns stories to Aickman or Howard is not the Cape first. Jacket should be present with the price present at the flap; the jacket is scarce and clipping is common.

## Is this the true first?
The Cape 1951 London edition is the true first and, on present evidence, the only contemporaneous edition — no US edition of the collection was published at the time, so no UK-vs-US precedence question arises. The census claim is confirmed. The 'first thus' trap is Tartarus Press, which reissued the collection three times: a first Tartarus edition in 2011 limited to 350 copies, a second in 2016, and a third in 2024 with a new introduction by R. B. Russell (red linson boards, gilt and silver lettering). The Tartarus printings restore the individual attributions — Aickman: 'The Trains', 'The View', 'The Insufficient Answer'; Howard: 'Three Miles Up', 'Left Luggage', 'Perfect Love' — and are firsts of their own edition only, never of the work.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue of the 1951 Cape edition is documented in the sources consulted. The practical confusion in the market is with the Tartarus Press reissues, which are dated, limited, and plainly marked on the imprint and limitation pages — check the title-page imprint and date before calling a copy the Cape first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *We Are for the Dark* by Robert Aickman & Elizabeth Jane Howard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/we-are-for-the-dark
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.