A Rose for Emily

The Indigo Necklace

Armed Services Edition 825

Armed Services Edition 827

interior page - 825 probable first printing

interior page - 825 probable later printing

interior page - 827 probable first printing

interior page - 827 probable later printing

Before we can really address this oddity, we need to revisit exactly how these books were printed. The Armed Services Editions were done in two-book pairs, stacked one atop the other. The pairs (nicknamed "two-ups" by collectors) were then wrapped in covers and separated with a single horizontal cut.

There were two sizes of ASE's. So, for two books to "match up" for production, they had to: 1) be the same size, and 2) have the same number of pages.

There were 1,322 books in the run -- but for a complete run of books, collectors know they need 1,324 books. That is due to the fact that they have to find first AND second printings for ASE numbers 717 and 718 (the two books that made up the set of Webster's New Handy Dictionary). And THAT is because the content changed between the printings.  (See the ASE section.) But, as more and more collectors try to complete ASE runs, we're finding more instances of differences between printings.

Such is the case of the two books seen here. For some reason, one of the pages for Frances Crane's The Indigo Necklace wound up being printed in William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily. It was a "scene of the crime" map -- one of two maps intended for facing pages as a prefix for the mystery novel. In the first printings of each, the "Main Floor" map appeared in error in the Faulkner book, while the "Upper Floor" map appeared on the tile page of of Crane's novel (where it obviously belonged) -- but without the main floor map facing it.

The two books are the same smaller size, but they have a different number of pages, meaning that they weren't "paired" together for production. Because the numbers are so close together, it is very probable that they were produced by the same printer (ASE's were produced in batches of 30 titles, or 15 mated pairs). There were numerous publishers around the country that were contracted to produce them.

There was obviously at least one more printing of each book, because the error was corrected. The "Main Floor" map disappeared from Emily, and appeared facing the other map in Indigo, where it belonged.

(Click the last three images to see full scans.)