The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James

The census claim is confirmed on the essential point: the London Edward Arnold & Co. edition of 1931 is the first collected edition and the standard James text. The New York issue from Longmans, Green & Co., also 1931, is collected as the first American; sources agree it does not precede the Arnold and describe it as following or accompanying the London publication, but the exact relationship (separate American printing versus British sheets with a cancel title) could not be settled from the sources consulted, so that specific characterisation is left open. For collecting purposes: Arnold London 1931 = true first; Longmans, Green New York 1931 = first American.