How To Tell What Edition A Book Is

If there are no other editions listed the book you have is the first edition.

I n most cases with most publishers today the method from telling one printing from another is to look at the row of numbers at the bottom of the book s copyright page. Print runs are the set number of copies of the book printed at one time. The lowest number in the series is the number of the book printing. Figure 1 shows a first printing the zero being the same as 10 in this case.

However if there are other editions listed your book will be the most recent one. For the second printing the 1 is removed so the 2 is the lowest number present. However in collecting terms a very rough description of first edition would be when it is the first appearance of a work in question. A number line is usually present such as 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 or 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.

Generally speaking if the 1 is present the book is a first edition first edition first printing. If a book reads something like 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 then your book is not part of the first printing the example above indicates a third printing cycle. A b c d e. Here is a quick run down of how to identify book club editions.

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Occasionally a letter line is used ex. You should see first edition followed by a year. First printing first impression and first published are other ways of publishers stating the first edition. If your book has one or more of these clues you can be fairly certain you have a book club edition.

To tell the edition of a book look at the bottom of the copyright page. No price inside front flap and or no ten digit isbn number on the back of the dust jacket and or there is a small indented spot on the back of the book. If a 1 is present in any sequence it s usually a sign that the book is a first edition. In publishing terms an edition is technically all copies of a book that were printed from the same setting of type and the book is only described as a second edition if substantial changes are made to the copy.