Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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We value a printing from verified sales of that exact printing, and none of the first impression has come to auction in our records so far. The chart and the value by condition appear here as soon as one does.
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The first edition is a single, very thick folio printed in London by John Day and published in March 1563. It runs to roughly 1,800 pages with more than sixty woodcuts, and the woodcut portrait of Day dated 1562 first appears in it. Binding is no guide, since surviving copies have been rebound many times. The 1570 second edition was greatly enlarged to over 2,300 folio pages in two volumes with about 150 woodcuts, so a two volume set is not the first. Copies are often imperfect, so collate against a full library or auction description before buying. UNVERIFIED: one union catalogue record gives the imprint as printed at London by John Day, dwelling over Aldersgate, with the date bracketed as [1563?], so the year may not be printed in the imprint itself. UNVERIFIED: the same record collates the book as [24], 1741 [i.e. 1807], [41] pages plus five leaves of plates, so the printed pagination runs out of sequence.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
John Day, London, in 1563, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
Points of issue are small, documented details, such as a misprint later corrected, a binding colour or a jacket price, …
Read the guide →7 min readTo identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
Read the guide →