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Let's start with the good news first: the majority of all the books ever written exist only as first editions. The truth is, many, many books simply weren't good enough or in sufficient demand to merit further printings. This fact alone makes our job far less daunting than it could be.
Another piece of good news: things are much easier now than they were 100 years ago. In recent years publishers have moved much closer to adopting a universal method of indicating first editions. Better yet, our ability to access publication information on antiquarian books, especially online, has increased far beyond what it was even five or ten years ago.
A final piece of good news: in the case of non-fiction, which is often sought primarily for its content, edition state may be a non-issue.
Perhaps before any discussion of first edition identification begins, it would helpful to talk about why first editions are important in the first place.
The first principle of valuation is, the closer we are to the genesis of a book, the more valuable it is.
It's the nature of collectors to want to be as close to the objects of their affection as possible, some would say to embrace them altogether. A first edition, the very edition the author might have held in his hands, attached his dreams of fame and fortune to - more to the point, the book that existed in that moment in time, when the author's vision was new and first expanded in the minds of his readers - takes the collector back to that time and allows him to dwell there, if only in his imagination.
Given this, it's clear why a first printing of a first edition is more valuable than a second, even though the second may have arrived immediately after the first. It's also clear why anything that preceded the first printing has more value yet. Advance reading copies, rough proofs, etc. - these usually command higher prices than first printings because they preceded them. Manuscripts, of course, command the highest prices of all, but if a collector could enter the mind of an author and capture the very spark of his creation in a bottle, he would, and it would be as priceless as a firefly locked forever at the moment of incandescence.
With this principle in mind, I've assembled a ladder of values that might be useful in attaching relative values to various edition states of books, depending on how close they hover to the moment of creation. Not all books exist in the twelve formats listed below, nor do the relative positions of these formats always apply. There may be occasions, for example, when a first trade printing of a book has more value than a preceding ARC. Formats that don't appear in the ladder may also apply - for example, offprints (bound excerpts from publications issued for promotional or targeted informational purposes), library editions (copies with durable bindings issued for institutional use), first separate editions (copies originally issued in different formats - e.g., magazines), edition de luxe's (copies issued in fine bindings), pirated copies, etc. In most cases, however, the hierarchy descends as follows:
The Bookologist's Ladder of Values
1. Manuscript copy. A copy hand- or typewritten by the author or transcribed or typewritten by the author's amanuensis.
2. Rough proof. Also called galley proof, first proof, or reader's proof. A copy printed from manuscript for purposes of editing and proofreading. Galley proofs most commonly refer to printed sheets, often uncut, that aren't assembled into a book, as distinguished from rough proofs, which are typically bound.
3. Advance reading copy (ARC). A copy given to booksellers and reviewers, either bound in paper wraps or a trade edition with a review slip laid in. Precedes release of trade edition. May or may not be subject to further revision.
4. First trade printing. First appearance of edition produced for general commercial sale, as distinguished from a limited edition.
5. First or later printing before publication. A copy printed prior to the actual release of the first printing to satisfy an excessive demand (or advanced orders) that the already existing first printing could not cover. Note that this is not technically a first printing even though the printing itself precedes the release date of the trade edition.
6. Limited edition. A copy whose print run is deliberately restricted to a small number, often numbered and/or signed by the author or illustrator or both. May or may not be the first appearance of the book in print.
7. First U.S. or U.K. edition. First edition printed in either country. May or may not be a true fir st edition, depending on which country releases it first, though sometimes printings/releases occur simultaneously. Note that first editions published in other countries typically don't command higher values unless it's the author's country of origin or special circumstances exist.
8. Second or later printing of first edition. (Note the publisher's distinction between first printing and first edition. A first printing is the first run from a first set of plates. A first edition second printing is the second run from the same set of plates. A second edition first printing is the first run from a different set of plates. Often only the first printing is of interest to collectors, and they may use the terms "first edition" and "first printing" interchangeably.)
9. Second or later edition.
10. First thus. First revised edition by the original publisher or the first printing by a different publisher. Note that the revision indicating a first thus state might consist of altered content in the text itself or an accompanying change such as a new introduction. A first thus may also be the first printing in paperback form, whether published by the same publisher or not.
11. Book club edition (BCE). (Note that in some cases the first book club edition may also be a first printing overall.)
12. Paperback (if preceded by hardback) edition. (Similarly, the first paperback printing may or may not be the first printing. A commonly used term for a first printing in paperback form is Paperback Original or PBO.)
Things may look more, not less, complicated after looking at this list, but take heart. Simply knowing that these different formats exist is half the battle. Most of the books you're likely to handle will fall into one of two or three categories, not 12 or more, and in those instances when you come across a less common format, say, an advance reading copy, identification will frequently be both intuitive and instantaneous.
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