nycyn
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posted on May 3, 2002 04:39:01 PM new
I'm sure this has been beaten to death here before, but when is a 1st. edition a First edition? I get the sense that when a book says first edition it doesn't mean it is necessarily so. E.G. Copyright 1943 1st edition Book Club 1944 or some such. Aalso, is a pre-published (if ever published proof worth anymore than a book?)
Your (lazy) Girl in the Street (with Attention Span of a Drosophila Melanogaster)
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Helenjw
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posted on May 3, 2002 05:45:26 PM new
It takes a lot of research to identify some first editions. For example, some publishers don't indicate first edition. Some publishers use a number line only. Some other first editions are identified by "points". In other words a unique thing that happened when the book was first published...like a mispelled word etc.
Book Club editions aren't first editions and generally have no collectable value. They are usually reprints of trade hardcovers. In some cases, they may be the first hardcover edition if the book was first published as a paperback. So, Book of the Month Club (BOMC) editions can be listed as a good reading copy but not a first edition. There may be rare exceptions to this info but gernerally book club editions are worthless except to someone who wants a reading copy.
The Limited Editon Club, (LEC) editions are an exception because thay have high value.
Heritage Press are also book club editions that have some value but not much.
I don't have much experience with proofs so I can't answer that question.
Bill McBride has a couple of really good books about identifing first editions. They may be avalable on Ebay. One book is on "Points" and the other one is on first editions.
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clarksville
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posted on May 4, 2002 05:13:38 AM new
http://www.rarebooks.org/firsted.htm
Generally the first things I look for is the $$$ on the dj flap, the number line and "first edition."
The number line indicates the printing. Yes a book may be 1st Ed but not 1st printing.
Also a telltale sign of a book club is the quality. The book clubs are cheap looking.
[ edited by clarksville on May 4, 2002 05:15 AM ]
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clarksville
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posted on May 4, 2002 05:31:31 AM new
http://bibliomania.net/brp.html
I used to have a link that listed a handful of publishers and how they indicated their 1st Eds, can't it now.
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Helenjw
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posted on May 4, 2002 05:37:32 AM new
You can find the information on publishers first edition identification here...
International Book Collectors Association
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clarksville
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posted on May 4, 2002 05:58:00 AM new
Thanks Helen, but that is the same link that I have already provided and it isn't the one I was referring to.
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Helenjw
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posted on May 4, 2002 06:07:03 AM new
Sorry, Clarksville
Guess I need a few more cups of coffee.lol
That link does have the publishers listed in alphabetical order with their customary methods to identify first editions along with some other good information about book collecting.
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mlecher
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posted on May 4, 2002 08:55:23 AM new
I work in a bookstore and know that determining the identity of a first edition is EXTREMELY difficult sometimes. Some indications are sooo subtle.....
For example:
Carl Sandburg's ABRAHAM LINCOLN: The Prairie Years- Page 175, line 9 of Volume 1 it reads "ears" instead of "eyes" That's the true first edition
Another book we had was the collected works of some poet. After the First edition was printed the printing plates were sold to a Book club who used them exactly to print a run. The only difference was the title page was printed with black ink in the book club edition and the true first was printed in red.
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Helenjw
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posted on May 4, 2002 10:21:07 AM new
I had a book last week in which the first edition could be determined by the direction that the pictured author was facing on the dust jacket. I couldn't determine if the direction was from his perspective or from mine. 
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clarksville
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posted on May 4, 2002 01:51:43 PM new
Helenjw [i]Sorry, Clarksville
Guess I need a few more cups of coffee.lol
That link does have the publishers listed in alphabetical order with their customary methods to identify first editions along with some other good information about book collecting.[/i]
Hey, no problemo
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Helenjw
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posted on May 4, 2002 03:02:21 PM new
Clarksville, Keeps my dendrites firing. hahaha!
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