HOW TO IDENTIFY 1ST EDITION BOOKS

How to Identify a First Edition: Positively identifying a first edition from a later printing in the shortest possible time greatly increases the enjoyment and satisfaction of book collecting, buying and selling.

What follow is experience I have gathered from my years of selling books. There are many [many] exceptions ot the rules, and I would suggest reading the books listed at the bottom of this post to help you fill in the gaps that I have left....

Book Club Editions

Book club editions are, for the most part, not true first editions.  There are always exceptions to the rule - but you can be 99.9% sure that if you have a Book Club Edition, you can pass it by.

What to look for:  Look at the inside flap of the dust jacket; some clubs state A selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club or simply Book club edition. Now look at the back of the dust jacket; some clubs use a small rectangular box with a series of 5 numbers on the back cover of the dust jacket. Take off the dust jacket and look at the back board on the lower right corner by the spine; Book-of-the-Month Club editions often have a very small dot or mark stamped there. Also, most club editions often have no price on the inside front flap of the dust jacket. Again, there are exceptions, (some Canadian titles and some books produced by University and small presses have no price on the jacket). So, if you have a current best seller and it has one or two of these points, you can be fairly certain you have a club edition.

Yes, I have a club edition hard-cover book in top condition, what is it worth? As a collectible probably very little - there in not much desire from collectors for club editions. On the other hand, if you have a copy in top condition of a current bestseller - it may have value as a reading copy - perhaps 10% to 50% of the trade edition's cover price.

Reprints

Books by authors such as Edgar Rich Burroughs, Mark Twain or classic works by Shakespeare or Charles Dickens were often reprinted. One of the best known reprint publishers from the early part of the twentieth century is Grosset & Dunlap. Other publishers that printed reprints are Avenel, Bison, Blakiston, Cupples & Leon, Collier, A.L. Burt,  Goldsmith, Sun Dial, Saalfield, and Triangle.

What to look for: Check the publisher listed on the title page and compare it to the publisher listed on the copyright page. An example of a reprint of "The Beasts of Tarzan" by Edgar Rice Burroughs states on the title page "Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers", but the copyright page states "Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co, 1916".

Yes, I have a reprint copy hard-cover book in top condition, what is it worth? A"completist" collector of the author or someone who wants a reading copy of a classic may pay, if in in top condition, perhaps 5% to 10% of the value of its non-reprint cousin.

First Edition? Second Edition?

Determining whether a copy of a book is a first, second or later edition can get a bit trickier, although in some cases it's very obvious.

What to look for:   Newer books - those printed after 1965 or so, often have a number or letter sequence that determines its reprint history. A number line such as "123456789" , "1357908642", or "ABCDEFGH" indicates a first edition [note the "1" or "A" at the beginning of the line]. If the line says "23456789" or "BCDEFGH", then you have a second printing (edition) ... and so on.  Look at the the copyright page to see if there is a statement of a later printing, such as "Reprinted 1999" or "Second Printing". Also eliminate books that clearly state “FIRST EDITION” yet their number lines only go down to 2 (many publishers print later editions without removing the “First Edition” statement). Of course there are special cases and exceptions to these rules.

Yes, I have a later printing hard-cover book in top condition, what is it worth? As a collectible probably very little - there in not much desire from collectors for later printing of current authors. On the other hand, if you have a copy in top condition of a current bestseller - it may have value as a reading copy - perhaps 10% to 50% of its cover price. Rarely, some second printings may hold value simply because the first edition is so very expensive - i.e.: second trade edition printings of early Stephen King novels may hold 5% to 25% of the first printing's value.


Books to help Identify First Editions:These three books will arm you with years of knowledge found nowhere else. If you collect or sell, these should be your first investment!

Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions - Sixth Edition  Bill McBride. Paperback Very useful little book. Publishers each have their own way of identifying the first edition (or more correctly - first printing ) of any book they produce. This little book lists most publishers and uses a simplified code system - a sample entry:

        Plowshare Press NAP

Which means No Additional Printings indicated on the back of the title page. It's based on the author's years of experience handling actual first editions with a combination of publishers statements about what method they used. While not entirely foolproof, it's a very useful starting point, especially in combination with 'Points of Issue..." listed below.

Points of Issue : A Compendium of Points of Issue . Bill McBride. Paperback. Another pocket-sized companion to the Guide listed above, it's also very useful. This is a list of specific books which have points of issue. For example:

 Ludlum, Robert. The Osterman Weekend. NY. (1972). DJ: printed acetate, priced $6.95 with A 3918 at bottom right corner of BC.

First Editions : A Guide to Identification - Edward N Zempel (Editor). Hardcover. More expensive but much easier to read than the McBride books, this is a compilation of publishers statements about their methods of identifying first editions. Covers nearly 1700 trade and academic publishers in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. For all bibliophiles.