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How publishers mark their first editions
Every publisher had its own way of marking a first edition: a statement, a number line, a letter, or nothing at all. Here are the 42 houses we have researched, A to Z, with the rule that matters most. Open any one for the full guide.
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- 42 publishers
- UK and US
A
- Arrow Books United Kingdom
- Arrow is a paperback imprint, not a hardback house.
B
- Bloomsbury Publishing United Kingdom
- - A first impression of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) has 1997 as the only date on the copyright page and a full number line running down to 1 ("10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1").
- Bodley Head United Kingdom
C
- Cassell United Kingdom
- Chatto & Windus United Kingdom
- - Chatto & Windus did not use a special mark for first editions: it told H.
- Clarendon Press United Kingdom
- Collins United Kingdom
- - Collins did not adopt any special method of marking first editions or first impressions, according to its statements to H.
- Constable United Kingdom
- Corgi United Kingdom
D
- Doubleday United Kingdom US guide
- - Doubleday, Doubleday, Doran and Doubleday & Co.
- Doubleday, Page & Company United Kingdom
- - Under its successor Doubleday, Doran (formed by the 1927 merger), first printings carry the words "First Edition" beneath the copyright notice on the back of the title page.
E
- Eyre & Spottiswoode United Kingdom
- - On first editions Eyre & Spottiswoode put the year of publication either under its name at the foot of the title page or in a "first published" statement on the back of the title page.
F
- Faber & Faber United Kingdom
- A Faber first edition has a single "First published" line on the back of the title page with no reprint dates beneath it; on older books the year in that line is written in Roman numerals, as in "First published in mcml".
G
- Gollancz United Kingdom
- An older Gollancz first edition is identified by what is missing: later impressions are recorded on the back of the title page, so a copy with no impression line under its first-publication date is the first.
H
- Headline Publishing Group United Kingdom
- Headline is a modern British trade house, so a first impression is judged mainly by the number row on the copyright page.
- Heinemann United Kingdom
- Hodder & Stoughton United Kingdom
- Early Hodder & Stoughton books have no consistent first-edition marking, so they are identified title by title from the points recorded for each book rather than by a house rule.
- Hogarth Press United Kingdom
- - Hogarth Press first editions carry no first edition statement.
- Hutchinson United Kingdom
- - Hutchinson did not mark its first editions in any way, as it told H.
J
- John Murray United Kingdom
- - From at least the 1920s Murray printed "First Edition" on the reverse of the title page of new books, a practice it confirmed to H.
- Jonathan Cape United Kingdom
- - UK first editions name Jonathan Cape on the title page and carry a "First Published" statement with the year on the reverse of the title page.
M
- Macmillan United Kingdom
- - This guide covers only the American firm, The Macmillan Company of New York (later Macmillan Publishing Co.); the British Macmillan has its own practice.
- Macmillan Children's Books United Kingdom
- Macmillan has long marked its later printings: a reprint or new edition carries a note of its printing history on the back of the title page, so a copy with no such note is the place to start.
- Methuen United Kingdom
- - Methuen used a consistent system from 1905: a first edition carries "First Published in" with the year on the reverse of the title page, and each reprint adds a further line below it.
- Mills & Boon United Kingdom
N
- New English Library United Kingdom
O
- Orion Publishing Group United Kingdom
- What a collector should know first: Orion did not exist before 1991.
- Oxford University Press United Kingdom
- OUP did not say "First edition" on its books for most of the twentieth century.
P
- Pan Books United Kingdom
- Pan Macmillan United Kingdom
- Penguin Books United Kingdom
- - The first 80 Penguins carry "The Bodley Head" on the front cover; from No.
- Picador United Kingdom
- - Picador copyright pages carry a printer's number line, and the lowest number shows the impression: a first impression keeps the 1, while a line ending at 11, for example, is an eleventh printing.
- Puffin United Kingdom
- 1940s to 1950s - Most Puffin Story Books were paperback reprints of children's books already issued by another publisher, whose paperback rights Puffin had bought.
R
- Robert Hale United Kingdom
- - Before 1958 a Robert Hale first edition either carries no statement or a line on the back of the title page giving the year of first publication; any reprints are added to that record, so a single date with no reprint lines indicates a first printing.
- Routledge United Kingdom
S
- Secker & Warburg United Kingdom
- - First-impression copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) are bound in green cloth and are found in either a red or a green dust jacket.
- Sidgwick & Jackson United Kingdom
- Smith, Elder United Kingdom
- - The first edition of Jane Eyre (1847) is in three volumes with the title page reading "edited by Currer Bell" and the imprint of Smith, Elder and Co., London.
T
- Transworld Publishers United Kingdom
- Before 1950 Transworld was set up in 1950, so a Transworld copy of a book with an earlier publication date is a later edition of a book first issued by some other publisher.
W
- Walker Books United Kingdom
- Before 1978 - Walker Books was founded in 1978, so a Walker copy dated earlier is a reissue or a misdated record, not a Walker first.
- Ward, Lock United Kingdom
- - In 1928 Ward, Lock told H.
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson United Kingdom
Before you rely on a rule
Publishers changed their practice over time, and imprints of the same group often followed different rules. Always read the whole copyright page, compare the title page date, and check the points for the book itself where we list them. Our guide to identifying a first edition covers the general method, and the number line decoder reads printer's keys.
Link to this tool
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<a href="https://myvolumes.com/first-editions/publishers/">First editions by publisher (MyVolumes)</a>More free tools
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