The True First Editions

One afternoon last week, in a used bookstore that I frequent, I talked with a true book lover about romance novels, and classics and mystery writing.

Our talk turned to our lives and since she seemed incredibly informed about books, I asked her if she had a background in English, and she replied, "No, I was a musician. But I should have been a librarian." Then she added, "But, I have always loved books."

We walked into a back room and began poring through the hardback novels that she had for sale. Suddenly, with her musician eyes looking down, and her piano fingers turning the first pages of one of the books, she asked, “How DO you identify a first edition?” She seemed to play the pages with her question.

Her question intrigued me on two levels:

1) That at age “seventy something” and a book store owner for many years, the question of a first edition wasn’t as important to her as finding just that right book for her customer.

2) Being a personal collector of the classic books for myself, and a sometime internet seller of all kinds of books, I have some knowledge of the process, but when I looked up more information on discovering a “true” first edition, I was amazed at the complexity of the process.

So, how DOES one identify a First Edition?

I suppose the first question to ask oneself when looking for that “true” first edition is what are your motives~~~To sell the book to a dealer?~~~OR~~~To own a first edition of some of your favorite authors for your personal library?~~~OR~~~Like my new book friend, to appease a mere curiousity about what constitutes a first edition?

However you answer, here are some things to look out for should you decide to start collecting first edition books:

1)The book is only a first if there are no indications of additional printings.

2)Check out the date on the title page with that on the copyright page.

3)There may the words First Edition in conjunction with a number system. If so, look for the number 1.

4)Collectors want first editions which are “1st state.” This is a book that has not gone through additional changes. A “2nd state book would have a number 2 or a B named on the copyright page. OR a 3 or a C in later editions.

5) Know the names of Reprint publishers---books from these publishers may be mistaken to be first editions when they are not---some sample reprint publishers are the following:

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