SELLING - Books.. How to Determine if a book is a First Edition..

A good friend of mine, a very successful bookseller on eBay named Pat, offers this advice below on how to determine if a book is a first edition. Pat maintains her eBay store at www.hortonsbks.com and has over 1000 books available for purchase! I will be adding more of her insights to the blog as time goes on.

HOW TO TELL IF A BOOK IS A FIRST EDITION BOOK( hortonsbks) I thought this might be of some use to someone. Let's begin with modern books. Most modern firsts are marked on the copyright page in some manner. Some are easy and state "First Edition." If it has anything else there, like 2nd Printing, then it's not a first even if it says so. First edition should be first printing. If it says nothing but First Edition, then it is assumed to be first printing.Number line: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 or backwards from this or letters A B C D E F G. A or 1 must be in the number line for it to be a First Edition.Most university presses don't state the first edition at all, but do state later editions.Might it state First Edition, but be a bookclub?You bet it can. Bookclubs are getting sneakier and sneakier. The common signs of a bookclub used to be "No price on the jacket." Or, take jacket off and look at the back cover. If you see a tiny little imprint (red dot or small square), it's a bookclub. Those little imprints are known as blind stamps. But, let's take the "DaVinci Code" as an example of a sneaky bookclub edition. It states "First Edition." There's no blindstamp. There's a price on the jacket. BUT, it's about an inch shorter than the real First Edition. This is a fairly new sneaky thing. So, if you're not sure, you can look up the book and see the true first selling for a high price and ask the seller for the exact measurements. If yours is shorter, you have the bookclub. Another simple way is to go to Amazon, because they often list the dimensions.Do Bookclub Editions have any re-sale value?Sometimes, but not often. Some Science Fiction was first published only in bookclub form. And, some really hard or pricey firsts will have a residual value to the early bookclub. For example, the first edition of Orwell's "1984" is quite pricey. However, the bookclub edition sells in the $25-20 range. There are also private bookclubs that printed high-priced reprints such as Franklin Library, Limited Editions Club, and First Edition Library (exact facsimiles). There are many collectors of those books. What about these old books?Here's where it gets trickier. Most publishers had their own methodologies and, in some cases, none. Many stated First Edition, but many didn't. Some only listed subsequent printings. Scribners has an A in a circle. There is a great source book called "Guide to First Edition Identification" by Zempel. Most folks who sell old books have this sourcebook. So, if you're unsure on old books, it's best to ask.Hope someone finds this of some use.