posted on September 19, 2000 09:10:05 PM new
Your question does not have a simple answer. Publishers do not all identify First Editions in the same way. There are books out that list almost all publishers and the methods they use to identify first editions.
You can also go to the eBay Book Board. They have something called The Big Red Post which has many topics of interest to book sellers. One of them is how to tell if a book is a First Edition. They post it several times a day so it's almost always on the board.
Some publishers state it's a First Edition, some use number lines and the lowest number is which edition it is but there are many other ways unfortunately.
posted on September 19, 2000 09:12:22 PM newamadika: I asked basically the same question once before. You can look carefully on the opening pages, where it lists the title, publisher, copyright date, etc. Some will have it there.
You can also go to http:/www.bibliofind.com, and one of the better one's
:http://www.olg.com/books/firsted.htm
posted on September 19, 2000 10:27:10 PM new
There is also the added complication that "first edition" doesn't always equal "first printing." Most people who want to buy "first editions" also want it to be that first printing as well. Some publishers say outright something like "first edition, second printing." Others use variations of alphabetic or numeric indicators. For example, a book with "abcdefg" might be a first printing, and one with "bcdefg" would be a second printing--but both are first editions...
