The Four Just Men

Sole true first: The Tallis Press, London, 1905 — the imprint Wallace created himself expressly to publish this book. There is no competing first-edition claimant in another country or language; no American edition appeared until many years later. The 'first thus' trap is downstream of the book's history: the newspaper prize competition was drafted without a clause limiting payment to one winner per category, Wallace was obliged to pay every correct entrant, and in the resulting financial collapse he sold the rights outright to George Newnes. Every Newnes and later-publisher issue is a reprint, however early it looks.