» Mervyn Peake – First Edition Books: Identification Guide

Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. The three works were part of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, the completion of which was prevented by his death. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R. Tolkien, but Peake’s surreal fiction was influenced by his early love for Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson rather than Tolkien’s studies of mythology and philology.

Mervyn Peake first made his reputation as a painter and illustrator during the 1930s and 1940s, when he lived in London, and he was commissioned to produce portraits of well-known people. For a short time at the end of World War II he was commissioned by various newspapers to depict war scenes. A collection of his drawings is still in the possession of his family. Although he gained little popular success in his lifetime, his work was highly respected by his peers, and his friends included Dylan Thomas and Graham Greene. His works are now included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum and The National Archives.

The five years between 1943 and 1948 were some of the most productive of his career. He finished Titus Groan and Gormenghast and completed some of his most acclaimed illustrations for books by other authors, including Lewis Carroll‘s The Hunting of the Snark (for which he was reportedly paid only £5) and Alice in Wonderland, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Brothers Grimm’s Household Tales, All This and Bevin Too by Quentin Crisp and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as producing many original poems, drawings, and paintings.

Titus Alone was published in 1959 and was revised in 1970 by Langdon Jones, editor of New Worlds, to remove apparent inconsistencies introduced by the publisher’s careless editing. A 1995 edition of all three completed Gormenghast novels includes a very short fragment of the beginning of what would have been the fourth Gormenghast novel, Titus Awakes, as well as a listing of events and themes he wanted to address in that and later Gormenghast novels.

In 2008, The Times named Peake among their list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”

Mervyn Peake – First Edition Identification Guide

Note: This list only includes works published prior to 1977.

How to Identify First Edition books by Mervyn Peake Guide
Year	Title	Publisher	First edition/Printing Identification Points
1976	BOY IN DARKNESS	[Exeter]: Wheaton, [1976]	Wrappers. This edition 1976 on © page. First separate printing. Collected earlier in the anthology Sometime, Never.
1939	CAPTAIN SLAUGHTERBOARD DROPS ANCHOR	[London: Country Life, 1939]	Boards with cloth shelf back. No statement of printing. Note: Publisher's imprint appears at base of front cover. No © page.
1950	GORMENGHAST	London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, MCML	First published in 1950 on © page.
1948	LETTERS FROM A LOST UNCLE	London: Published by Eyre and Spottiswoode Ltd., 1948	First edition so stated on page [2].
1953	MR. PYE	Melbourne:: London :: Toronto: William Heinemann Ltd, [1953]	First published 1953 on © page.
1959	TITUS ALONE	London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959	First published 1959 on © page. ALSO: London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, [1970]. This edition, reset and illustrated, first published 1970 ... on © page. Revised and enlarged text. Note: Restores deletions in the 1959 edition. Follows Peake's manuscript with illegible text interpreted by Langdon Jones.
1946	TITUS GROAN	[London]: Eyre & Spottiswoode, MCMXLVI	This book first published MCMXLVI on © page.

Mervyn Peake – First Printing Dust Jacket Identification Points

Gallery of First state Dust Jackets of Peake’s works. Only includes the first appearance in book form. Either the UK or US edition and does not include later printings.