Dracula by STOKER, Bram - 1897

Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897, 1897. FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE. 1 vol., text bulking to 27mm, blank final leaf (391/392), it does not contain the 16 page publisher's catalog but has the 8 page terminal catalogue mentioned below. Bound in the publisher's original red stamped yellow cloth, inner hinges starting, outer hinges fine, head and foot of spine rubbed with some minor loss, general overall handling but not as offensive as most copies, minor offsetting to endpapers, some spotting to upper edges of last few leaves otherwise internally clean and bright, small neat ownership signature on half-title, a GOOD completely unsophisticated copy of a notoriously difficult book to find that hasn't been mucked with. Rebound, restored, rebacked, relined, recased, and cleaned copies are the norm but this copy has survived, thankfully, eluding the re-storer. The first edition points for Dracula are complex but most experts agree that the earliest printing of Dracula was issued on thick paper, bulking 27mm, contained a blank final leaf (391/392), and no terminal publisher's advertisements. Later issues of the first edition were printed on thinner paper, contain an advertisement for "Shoulder of Shasta" on the rear flyleaf, and included a 16 page publisher's catalog. Richard Dalby, in his 1983 bibliography of Stoker, states that "later issues of the first edition carry an advertisement for The Shoulder of Shasta on the rear flyleaf [392]" and that the "publishers cannot confirm any other points regarding status of the first issue, nor the exact publishing date." In the revised and expanded version of his bibliography published in 2004, he incorporated a variant that contains the points of thicker paper, a blank final leaf, and an eight-page terminal catalogue beginning with an advertisement for The Amazing Marriage by George Meredith, ending with one for The Whitehall Shakespeare, which were published no later than 1896, and carrying no mention of Dracula.