Robert Bloch First Editions

• The Opener of the Way — 1945 · Arkham House, Sauk City, WisconsinThere is one Arkham printing only — 2,065 copies — so any copy bearing the Arkham House, Sauk City, 1945 imprint is the first printing; there is no printing statement to look for and none should be present. The book is bound in original black cloth, collating xi + 309 pages, and the jacket, illustrated and designed by Ronald Clyne, should be present and priced at the front flap. This is Bloch's first book; the…. Arkham House (Sauk City), 1945, is the true first and the author's first book; nothing precedes it in any language. The census claim is confirmed on precedence, and its reading of the 1974 Neville Spearman (Jersey/London) volume as the only other hardcover is broadly right for the period — that Spearman edition is the first British hardcover, a legitimate separate collectable but not a rival first. A two-volume…. No book-club edition is documented, and Arkham never reprinted the title, so there is no later Arkham printing to confuse with the first. The reissues to know are the Spearman 1974 British hardcover — black cloth with gilt spine titling and the same 309-page collation, externally close enough to the Arkham book that the title page must be read — the Panther paperbacks of 1976, an Italian translation of 1991 with….
• The Scarf — 1947 · The Dial Press, New YorkThe Dial Press, New York, 1947. Octavo, boards. No statement of printing appears on the copyright page (per Currey), so the first is identified by the Dial title leaf and 1947 copyright date alone — a copy showing any later printing statement is not the first. This is Bloch's second book and his first novel; his first book was the Arkham House collection 'The Opener of the Way' (1945). Issued in a pictorial dust…. Census claim CONFIRMED. The Dial Press (New York, 1947) is the true first — an American original in English, with no British edition preceding or accompanying it. The 1948 Avon paperback is the first paperback appearance and was retitled 'The Scarf of Passion'; it is a retitle trap and not a first. Later Avon printings reverted to the original title 'The Scarf'. No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The significant 'first thus' trap is the 1966 Fawcett Gold Medal paperback, for which Bloch revised the text: he switched chapter sequences at the opening, edited out 1946-era references and slang, restored several sequences cut by the original editor, and rewrote the ending. Every edition from 1966 forward therefore carries the revised text; only the Dial 1947 first….
• Psycho — 1959 · Simon and SchusterIssued in Simon and Schuster's Inner Sanctum Mystery line; the first printing states "First printing" on the copyright page. The binding is tan/beige cloth at the spine over black paper-covered boards, with the spine title lettered in red. The first-printing dust jacket is the black-and-white design with the title reading vertically in cracked lettering; a priced jacket (price present at the front flap,…. The Simon and Schuster (New York) 1959 edition is the true first. The first British edition followed from Robert Hale Limited (London) in 1960, with a different, more pictorial jacket; both are collected, but the US edition has precedence. Later Simon and Schuster printings omit the "First printing" statement; copies lacking the statement or the priced jacket flap are later issues. No distinct book-club points were documented in the sources consulted.

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