The Thinking Machine

The US Dodd, Mead (New York) 1907 edition is the true first. The UK edition — Chapman & Hall, Limited, London, 1907, in original red pictorial cloth lettered in gilt, also illustrated by The Kinneys — appeared later the same year and is catalogued by dealers as the first UK edition, with the American issue preceding it; both are collected, the Dodd, Mead as the true first and the Chapman & Hall as the first British. The census claim that Dodd, Mead 1907 is the ONLY edition is wrong and is corrected here: the same-year Chapman & Hall London issue exists and, because the two are only months apart and share the year, it is a genuine precedence trap for cataloguers. Per Quill & Brush, Chapman & Hall either stated "First published [Year]" or made no statement on firsts and noted subsequent printings. The stories had appeared earlier in periodical form, which is not a book edition.