2023 NYABF E-List

A small, representative selection of books that will be on display April 27-30 at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair from the Park Avenue Armory. Come visit us at booth C13. For free tickets, please send us an email.

For more photos and current availability, please follow the links for each of the items listed below, or click here. To order something or make an inquiry, please email us, use the “Ask A Question” button at the bottom of the individual listings, or use the website contact form.

decoding the Rosetta Stone

Champollion, Jean–François                                                                                                                                                                            

Grammaire égyptienne, ou Principes généraux de l'écriture sacrée égyptienne appliquée a la représentation de la langue parlée [...]

Paris: Firmin Didot Fréres, 1936- [1941] 1st edition in the original printed wrappers of Champollion’s monumental work. One of the foundational works of Egyptology. Grammaire égyptienne contains the first printed list of hieroglyphs. It was compiled from Champollion’s manuscripts using a combination of standard typesetting and lithographic engravings (260 of them). Some wear to the extremities, toning to the spine and a small repair (strengthening) to the inside of the wrapper, else very good and rare with only one copy in the original wrappers listed in the auction records. Half morocco and Japanese silk case. Folio, pp. [VIII], XXIII and 555.

One of 2 books by Champollion (the other being his, later, dictionary printed in 1841–[1843]) that laid the foundation for all future Egyptology and all study of the ancients before the Greeks. It gave to the world Champollion’s theory and classification of hieroglyphic signs, with their values and their equivalents in hieratic; in addition, it showed how the different parts of speech, including verb conjugations and noun declensions, were represented in hieroglyphic signs, with illustrative phrases taken from the monuments which he visited with a troop within Napoleon’s army, that included artists so as to transcribe the pictures with accuracy.

In 1799 that army uncovered an ancient stele in the Nile delta, now commonly known as the Rosetta Stone. Its inscription (recorded in three distinct scripts, ancient Greek, Coptic, and hieroglyphic) would provide scholars with the first clues to unlocking the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphs, a language lost for nearly two millennia. Champollion became interested in hieroglyphs, and first learned about the Rosetta stone, on a childhood visit to Joseph Fourier, who was the scientific advisor on Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition. As a boy Champollion learnt many languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean and Chinese, and later added Coptic, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Persian and others. To crack the code of the hieroglyphic script, he started with Egyptian obelisks in Rome and papyri in European collections. In 1822 he gave a lecture, published as the Lettre à M. Dacier relative à l’alphabet des hiéroglyphes phonétiques, in which he identified hieroglyphic letters in royal names, but his grand epiphany was that most hieroglyphs were not literal pictures of some unexplainable mystic significance but rather syllables, that when connected made words. It took him 6 years to get funding for his sole visit to Egypt in 1828–29, against opposition from religious fundamentalists who had dated Noah’s flood and did not want that dating contradicted by discoveries of any civilization that had existed before, or shortly after, that date. Once in Egypt, Champollion conducted the first systematic survey of the country’s monuments, history, and archaeology, and studied the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (a name he first coined). On his return, the first chair in Egyptian history and archaeology was created for him at the Collège de France, but he didn’t hold it long. As a direct consequence of the stresses and rigors of his expedition, Champollion had a stroke and died on 4 March 1832 while preparing the results of his findings for publication.

$7,500

a Holmes rarity

Doyle, Arthur Conan

The Speckled Band

London: Samuel French, 1912. 1st edition. Original wrappers, soiled, chipped, and worn else a very good copy of the Doyle adapted play of his own story from 20 years before. It is one of the scarcer Doyle titles.

Initially published in "The Adventures" in 1892, it was adapted for the stage by Doyle as "The Stonor Case" and premiered at the Adelphi Theatre in London on June 4, 1910. There were some changes to the story and additions of characters, but the themes remained in both versions; manipulation and control of typically vulnerable Victorian women. The popularity of "Speckled Band" can perhaps be explained by Doyle's use of Gothic elements, particularly in developing the villain, Dr. Roylott—not typical of most Holmes stories.

$5,000

Drake, Leah Bodine

A Hornbook for Witches

Sauk City: Arkham House, 1950. 1st edition. Signed. Some rubbing to the corners, toning from acidic binder’s glue along the gutters, else near fine in fine (actually fine) dust jacket. One of the smallest publications of any Arkham House book at 553 copies, Drake self-financed the printing and took 300 copies for her own distribution. Fine copies are rare and signed copies scarce. Custom 1/4 morocco slip case.

This is Drakes first book, but she was already well known from the mid 30s as one of the more popular poets of the horror and fantasy genre, regularly appearing in Weird Tales.

$5,500

the true first edition

Dumas, Alexandre

Les Trois Mousquetaires

Brussels: Alph. Lebègue, 1844. First Edition. Hardcover. 5 vols. in 2. 1st edition (published by Lebègue), 1st issue (in 18mo.). Undoubtedly the real 1st edition, listed first by Munro (Alexandre Dumas Pere. A Bibliography of Works Published in French), its priority undisputed by anyone credible, and preceding all other 1844 editions, including those from Meline, Muquardt, 3 editions from Librairie Hauman, Lebègue’s reissue in 24mo., and Baudry’s 1844 Paris edition (issued last of all the 1844 editions and the most common). Contemporary half calf, some rubbing and wear, joints strengthened, else very good, and complete with all 5 half–titles. Collation: [1]–181, [1 blank]. [1]– 172. [1]–171, [1 blank]. [1]–163.[1 blank]. [1]–223, [1 blank] pp. Fine half morocco and wood veneer case.

A scream out loud unearthing, rare by any criterion, and read the next sentence slowly. This is the rarest 1st edition, by census, of any novel, by anyone, that could accurately be called a classic. Munro’s bibliography lists a set he saw, so with our set that’s 2, and we’ve located 2 others in private hands. That means 4 are now known. No copies of this Lebègue edition are listed as sold at auction. The only other Brussels editions sold at auction since 1980 were 2 copies with Meline’s Brussels and Leipzig imprint, the 2nd of Meline’s editions, the 6th overall, and the most regularly seen of the 8 Brussels issues from 1844. More surprisingly OCLC/World Cat located no (zero) sets oof our Lebègue 1st edition in any National or University library and only single volumes I, II, and V at Sommerpalais, Germany. OCLC does, of course, record libraries holding multiple sets of the other, later Brussels editions, but “who cares?” comes to mind. Let me repeat. This is the correct 1st edition of Les Trois Mousquetaires, one of 4 known copies, and in rare book world that is colossal.

The 1st appearance was a daily serialization in the newspaper Le Siècle (The Century, or some translate it as The Age) from Mar. 14–Jul. 14, 1844. Our Alph. Lebègue edition holds priority over all other book editions, and it is also the rarest. The reason (in this case) that all the 1844 Brussels editions of Les Trois Mousquetaires precede the 1844 Paris edition, is because after the newspaper serial was completed, and with at least 4 of the Brussels editions fully published and being sold, Dumas casually opened Paris book publication rights for bidding while he (unnecessarily) wrote a short preface and slightly revised the text. Most who have read both texts concur that the original is better than the revised. The winner of Dumas’ auction for Paris book rights (in a feisty rivalry) was finally Baudry, and he paid a lot for the privilege, so he published a larger edition than was usual for the Paris editions of Dumas’ novels up to that time. And yes, it’s odd (I’m amazed if there ever was one) that Baudry’s (Paris) edition of Les Trois Mousquetaires is the most common of the Paris 1st editions of Dumas’ major novels, while Lebègue’s (Brussels) edition of it is the rarest Brussels 1st edition of them all, and yet most booksellers continue to offer the Paris edition at excessive prices, without mentioning that it’s the 5th edition, because that’s the edition they can find, and so they snuggle up against it like a sick kitten to a warm brick.

$45,000

the first printing of any Dylan lyrics

Dylan, Bob

Introducing… Broadside

New York: Turner and Cunningham, 1962. 1st edition of issue number 1. Stapled wrappers (8 1/2” X 11”), 6 leaves, 5 printed on rectos only (as issued). Soft crease to one corner, near fine (no ex–library marks), and you will only see a finer copy in the dreams you will have after breathing deeply over an open paint can. The 1st publication of any of the Nobel Laureate’s original, copyrighted lyrics, a full printing of Talking John Birch [Paranoid Blues], along with 4 more songs and a poem written by others. Talking John Birch was recorded (April 24, 1962) for The Freewheelin’ [Bob Dylan], his 2nd album, but Columbia Records ultimately suppressed the album over that song. John Birch was replaced just before the album’s release, as were 3 other songs because, by then, Dylan thought he had 3 better ones (he did). But a few original copies, from old metal stampers, escaped and the 1st version, with the 4 quashed songs, is rare and lewdly expensive at auction ($150,000 stereo, $11,000 and $30,000 mono, all in 2022). John Birch was finally released in 1991 on the first album of the Bootleg series.

The circle of the arts includes sculpture, architecture, literature, furniture, painting, drawing, goldsmithing, printmaking, landscaping, ceramics, industrial design, photography, gastronomy, haut couture, music, dance, cinema, animation, drama, and 30 other domains. Their influence waxes and wanes with the fashion (industrial design seems foremost right now, just look at your iPhone), but in the 1960s, music shaped a surfacing generation’s zeitgeist more than any other art discipline, and Bob Dylan’s lyrics were undeniably the most impactful of all. 60 years later he is still around, mitigated, but capable of surprising us at any moment. Our book though, is from the breaking dawn, Dylan as beginner, the hatching of a matchless human manifestation, unlike any other.

$2,000

Einstein’s first great papers

Einstein, Albert

Three Landmark Papers including Uber einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt; In Annalen der Physik, Band 17

Leipzig: Barth, 1905. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition (in German), the first appearance anywhere of 3 exalted papers by Einstein, each of them dealing with a different subject, each now recognized to be the beginning of a new branch of physics, and each now accredited to be a masterwork. Our 3rd paper (The Special Theory of Relativity) was followed by a 4th paper, later in 1905, that tied mass and energy together, and his General Theory of Relativity followed in 1915. Original cloth (?), complete with half–title and index, rubs to the spine tips still near fine, exceptional for this book and, unusually, without stamps or other marks. Half morocco case. All 3 papers are in this volume, as issued, and it’s superior to, and not comparable to, extractions, because everyone knows that torn out pages are not a book, Multiple copies of the offprints, of one or another of the 3 specific papers, have sold at auction since 1975, and individual issues are also seen, as well as extractions, but, surprisingly, it looks like ABPC lists only 11 complete copies of our volume sold at auction in the last 47 years (most in poor condition or in later bindings), the most recent one in 2019 and, typically, that one was an ex–library copy, shaken, and with stamps on the pages and edges. Compared to the individual issues or the offprints, our book seems scarce enough when it’s complete, and yet, it is often wrongly thought of as available on demand, and it is nearly impossible to edify collectors about something that runs counter to what they suppose they already know. For instance: an atom smasher is really a subatomic particle accelerator, the origins of the Renaissance were not in Florence but in Padua, coyotes are actually 15 mph faster than roadrunners, and ignorance is not bliss or more people would be happy.

$35,000

Greene, Graham

Brighton Rock

New York: Viking Press, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition (published in June), preceding the London edition (published in July). Fine in a dustjacket with just small nicks and tears at the edges, else near fine, and with the rare wraparound band, also near fine, and the band is of critical importance because it was only issued with the few earliest copies, and says so right on it, and therefore it is the only identifier of the 1st issue and copies without the band can be dismissed like junk mail. The London edition, in this condition, is 10 times our price even though it is later, and our NY edition in jacket, when it has the band, is rarer than the London edition in jacket, but that is another fact that is not widely known. Fine full morocco case.

As a young man, Greene worked as a journalist in Brighton, covering stories of local crime and gang activity. He was particularly fascinated by the culture of violence and corruption that existed in Brighton during the 1930s, and this provided the inspiration for his novel. 

Brighton Rock's plotline is heavy beyond sorrow, taking the reader on a journey into psyche of a morally ambiguous protagonist while more broadly examining the darker aspects of human nature. And if you like the novel and want the best copy of it for quality, significance, priority, rarity, and beauty, here it is.

$8,000

the first detective story

Hoffmann, E. T. A

Das Fräulein von Scuderi

Frankfurt: Wilmans, 1819 [1820]. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition (in German). The 1st appearance anywhere in Taschenbuch für das Jahr 1820–Der Liebe und Freundschaft gewidmet [Dr. St. Schütz]. 12 illustrated poems on unnumbered pages at the front, then Hoffmann’s novella is printed on pages 1–122. The remaining 208 pages are additions by others (an almanac). Contemporary full morocco, bound as a leather lined wallet with a pocket and pencil sheath at the back, mirror green endpapers, aeg, 3 little chips to the flap, some small worn spots, frontispiece with one tideline, still very good, complete, the pages white, a little jewel of a book, and rarer than someone who is exactly like their online persona. ABPC lists no auction sales in the last 47 years, OCLC lists just 2 copies in libraries (Waseda and Emory), and though we have always looked for it, we have only had it once before (the copy now at Emory). Coll: Frontis + (6) + 24 pages + 12 monthly plates + 330, pages + 5 plates.

The notion that Poe invented the detective story in 1841 from the air is a canard (the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead). What he did invent was C. Auguste Dupin, out to prove (and explain) his method of analysis. What Poe imitated was an amateur who takes up a Paris murder to save a wrongly charged man. Madeleine de Scudéri (a 50–something poetess) develops a theory (induction) in an earlier series of Paris murders because of compassion for the victims, then tests her theory (deduction) to rescue a falsely charged man, but she regards herself less seriously than Dupin and feels no need to openly demonstrate her methods (Poe read this tale in translation and was inspired). So, we ask, is the detective story about unraveling crimes, or is it about subtleties surrounding the detective’s motivation? Brush off Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex (429 B. C.), The Three Apples (The Arabian Nights, ca. 1,000 AD), Voltaire’s philosophical comedy Zadig (1747) even with some puzzle solving, and all the other pretenders, and we will give you 3 convincing supports for the preeminence of our novella in the detective chronology. 1. A series of unexplained murders occur at the beginning, continue, and are resolved at the end. 2. There is an innocent suspect, and the real killer is a character in the story but is unsuspected. 3. The innately reluctant detective is naturally curious, and though she is not a private investigator or the police, she, like Agatha Christie’s Miss. Marple, mostly draws on interviews and conversations, and her meddling leads her to untangle the facts. And the clues, inquiries, discovery. reasoning, and the resolution are clear, orderly, and plausible. Works for us.

$6,000

a monumental association

Hugo, Victor

Presentation Photograph, Inscribed to Sarah Bernhardt

Paris: J.M. Lopez, 1872. Bust portrait of Victor Hugo (3 7/8” X 5 3/8”), mounted on its original card (6 1/4” X 8 3/8”). Inscribed, in black ink (trailing from the photograph down to the card), “A mademoiselle Sarah Bernhardt admiration et reconnaissance. Victor Hugo” (To Miss Sarah Bernhardt admiration and gratitude. Victor Hugo). The card is backed with contemporary framing craft paper and mounted to it is an image of Bernhardt’s study, showing this very photograph (a fillet on the former frame) hanging on the wall centered over her desk. Slight edge darkening and slighter spotting to the photograph, but very good, the inscription sharp and unfaded, the card to which it is mounted has some mat burn and a few spots of foxing, its edges cleanly cut, but the lower left corner was cut on a slight angle.

A monumental association between (at the time) the most famous author and the most famous actress, and there are no 19th century comparables like this one, that are nearly as great as this one. 

Here is a précis of Bernhardt’s story. She was born in 1844 and attended her first play at 15 with her mother and 2 of her mother’s friends, Charles de Morny and Alexandre Dumas. She was so emotionally taken by it that she cried throughout. Dumas calmed her afterwards, spoke with her at length, and told her mother that Sarah’s intellect, and emotional wiring, destined her to be an actress, and a star. Morny, who was half–brother to Napoleon III, fixed her acceptance into the Paris Conservatory, Dumas coached her, and she made her professional debut at 18. A dozen other roles followed but she left Paris for Belgium, had a sultry romance with The Prince of Linge, then returned to Paris to have their child. In 1866 she signed with Théâtre de L’Odéon and in 1868 became the star Dumas had predicted, playing the lead role in the revival of his play Kean. She served as a nurse during the Franco–Prussian war (converting the Odéon into a hospital) and when the French 2nd empire was replaced by the 3rd republic, Victor Hugo returned to France from a 19–year political exile and met Bernhardt. Once the siege of Paris was over and the theaters reopened, Hugo’s play, Ruy Blas, was staged in Jan. 1872 to celebrate his homecoming. Bernhardt played the lead role as the Queen of Spain, and her fame, already prodigious, rose to the pinnacle with a triumphant performance. The bond between author and actress combined mutual respect and appreciation, a victorious professional relationship, unparalleled satisfaction for an adoring public, and a well–known, ongoing tryst, recounted with intimate details and frankness in the book My Erotic Life. Already the most renowned actress in France, Bernhardt toured England, Belgium, and Denmark with her own troupe in 1879 and 1880, then sailed to America, toured 51 cities, and returned to France with $194,000 in gold coin. Now the most famous actress in the Western world (the first superstar), she performed across the rest of Europe (except for Germany) then returned to Paris and shined there again. Other world tours followed, and she came home from one of them with 3 1/2 million francs. In 1893 she bought the Théâtre de la Renaissance where she performed and directed, sold it 1899 and leased a larger concert hall where she staged whatever struck her mood often playing male roles, and every time she wanted more money, she would do another tour. She injured her leg in a stunt leap on stage, had to have it amputated in 1915, weathered W. W. I., continued to perform, made a few films, and died in 1923, still the most acclaimed actress in the world. We have already said that she was the first superstar and so, she was, of course, the earliest born person awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

“There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses––and then there is Sarah Bernhardt.” –Mark Twain.

$20,000

Livermore, Jesse

How to Trade in Stocks

New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1940. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition. Fine in a dustjacket that is chipped along all its edges and folds else very good. Scarce in jacket. Fine / very good. 

Livermore was the greatest and most famous stock trader of the first half of the 20th century. He called the crash of 1907 and made $3 million, he went short on the 1929 crash and made close to $100 million. He also lost large sums regularly; declaring bankruptcy in 1934 was a major contributing factor to his depression and eventual suicide in 1940.

$8,000

disproving spontaneous generation

Pasteur, Louis

Mémoire sur les corpuscules organisés qui existent dans l’atmosphère, examen de la doctrine des générations spontanées. [bound with] Examen critique d’un écrit de Claude Bernard sur la fermentation; Offprint from: Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 3e série, Vol LXIV

Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, 1862. First Edition. Hardcover. Two 1st editions bound as one in late 19th century red half calf, with gilt title to spine and marbled boards and end papers. Original blue printed front wrapper bound in with an inscription from Pasteur to colonel Idelphonse Favé: "À monsieur Le Colonel Favé hommage respectueux L. Pasteur" [To Colonel Favé with respectful tribute, L. Pasteur]. Pp. 110, with two large folding plates. Rubbing to extremities of the binding, strengthening to the joints, skillful repair to a 1" marred section of the front pastedown and endpaper, original wrapper with some toning and light creases to the corner, else internally clean and over-all very good. Very good.

This is the first offprint of Pasteur’s longest and most important work on spontaneous generation. Initially printed in Vol. 16 of the Annales des sciences naturelles, this offprint (the first offprint) was made from the Annales de chimie et de physique, 3, printed a couple months after the first.

This offprint is scarce, especially so inscribed, still more to those with relevant connections or interest in the discoveries. Favé, was an advisor to Napoleon III, particularly related to weaponry engineering, but held great influence in all fields of science. The introduction of Pasteur’s work on fermentation and spontaneous generation was important in guiding standards and practices where the French economy was concerned—as in grape and wine disease. 

Norman, 1654; PMM, 336c; Garrison-Morton, 2475.

$17,500

a key Black academic

Sanchez, Sonia

We BaddDDD People

Detroit: Broadside Press, 1970. First Edition. Wrappers. 1st edition, 1st printing. Original wrappers, short diagonal crease to the upper corner of the front cover else near fine. The 1st printing is seldom seen, even in significant collections of African American literature. A compilation of poetry broken into 3 parts; Survival Poems, Love/Songs/Chants, and TCB/EN Poems. Cover art by Ademola Olugebefola. Near fine.

Sanchez had a prolific academic career. She was a leader in the push to establish Black studies at predominantly white universities, and the first to create and teach a course on Black women's literature while at the University of San Francisco in the 1966.

$375

the real first

Stoker, Bram

Dracula

London: Constable, 1897. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition, 1st printing with no ad for The Shoulder of Shasta on the last integral leaf (2C4). 1st binding with no publisher’s catalog. Original cloth, soiled, wear to corners and tips, inner paper hinges undetectably strengthened, small pen mark to page 54, else very good. A bibliographically correct Dracula is much scarcer than widely assumed so if you want the real 1st edition (see below) and a sound copy of it, ours is for you.

In a reaction to the overthought and over explained, let’s hike the bibliographical path of fact (facts aren’t interested in your feelings) so as to carve a sturdy chronology for the 1st edition of Dracula, eliminating superfluous data, nefariously deceptive argot, and the dizzying abuse of terms, while remembering that few bookseller’s sales tactics are more sinful than knowing a book’s bibliography and lying about it for undeserved profit, and few disputes are more bitter than the quarrels between those who believe an idea today and those who will believe that idea tomorrow. 1. The 1st edition (1st impression): All 3,000 copies of the 1st printing have the last integral leaf blank, with no ad for The Shoulder of Shasta. Copies with the Shasta ad, even with no printed avowal that they are later impressions, are not later issues, or later bindings, or later states, they are all reprints (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th printings), and in today’s candor they should not be called 1st editions (despite A. B. A. A.’s archaic glossary of terms), and when they are, it is a wicked duplicity, rationalized by now antiquated terminology, misused to mislead. And you should pay no more, percentagewise, for a Dracula with the Shasta ad than you would pay for any other book that stated “2nd impression” or “2nd printing” or “2nd edition” or had a number line ending in “2” or “3” or “4” (Book Code). 

There were 2 bindings of the 1st printing, priority as below. 
A. Bound without a publisher’s catalog. The rational argument for the priority of our state A is that all of Stoker’s presentation copies dated in late May and June, all of the earliest publisher’s presentation copies, a deposit copy, and all the early review copies, have no catalog (there may be an outlier but in my 45 years I’ve seen dozens of these markers). This evidence should be dispositive. 

B. Bound with an undated publisher’s advertisement catalog listing no books published after 1897. The last book published that’s listed in this ad catalog is Warren’s editing of The Faerie Queene, its first 2 volumes published early in 1897 (Dalby’s bibliography missed it). The frail argument for the equality of state B is convoluted, with 4 “ifs”, but here it is. If all 3,000 copies of the 1st printing were bound before publication (there is no indication of this), and if the ad catalog was inserted into the first available copies until the supply was exhausted, and if the remaining copies of the 1st printings were bound without a catalog seeing as no subsequent catalog was yet available, then it could be fantasized, that if the publisher aimed to get the maximum number of copies with his ads into the hands of the retail buying public, he might have chosen, as a business strategy, to send author’s copies to Stoker, deposit copies to wherever, free copies to reviewers, and publisher’s copies to friends, without the catalog. 

Reality: The analysis for 1–A stands beyond lucid argument. It’s the 1st binding. The analysis for 1–B, hinging on the publisher intentionally, exclusively, and successfully, selecting those copies with an ad catalog for retail sale only, is an illusory strategy that has not been demonstrated elsewhere in late Victorian publishing. Also, Dracula (published May 26) did not sell all that fast and it is almost certain that not all copies were initially bound, and the B binding was in fact bound later, adding the catalog. It’s the 2nd binding, and the 2nd issue. 

2. The later editions: Copies of all the earliest re–printings carry an ad for The Shoulder of Shasta on the final integral leaf. The fact that the leaf is integral to the last signature is what separates this ad point from the usual ones as it is part of the text’s printing process and inseparable from the actual text, and it was printed with the text. This is much like additions to, or deletions from, the text in books of this vintage that often signify later printings. Clearly then, all copies with the Shasta ad are reprints, being the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th printing, and calling them “1st edition, 2nd state” or “1st edition, 2nd issue” is a charade, and if you own one, you have been duped. The 5th printing added “fifth impression” to the verso of the title page. Trying to divide and identify the 2nd, 3rd and 4th printings from one another is imprecise but the 2nd printing has the Shasta ad and most copies of it were bound with no inserted catalog of other ads following this leaf. The 3rd printing also carries the Shasta ad and most copies of it have an undated inserted catalog following this leaf listing some books published after Dracula’s May 26, 1897 publication date. The 4th printing still includes the Shasta ad and most copies of it have an inserted catalog dated 1898 following this leaf. And, as noted, copies of the 5th printing have the notation, “fifth impression.”

NOTE: Mixed states (bindings) occur but it is the blank integral last page with no Shasta ad, on which one should reliably lean as the definer of the 1st edition. 

NOTE: At some point the supply of paper used on the earliest copies ran out and the new supply of paper was coated and thinner. Since no copies of the 1st printing were printed on thinner paper, and many copies of the 2nd printing were printed on thicker paper, it isn’t a factor, only a distracting confuser. Ignore it. 

BEWARE: Reprints in original cloth are seen with the Shasta ad removed and replaced with a blank leaf of similar paper. Savvy buyers should examine this area with all the care exercised by porcupines during sex, and mistrust (avoid), for that reason, any rebound copy, unless it is an early dated presentation copy.

$50,000