Little, Brown

• Before the 1930s Little, Brown generally did not mark its first editions.
• From the 1930s a first printing typically carries a single line on the copyright page giving the month and year of first publication; each reprint adds a further dated line, so a copy with only one publication line is the one to look for.
• Books from the 1940s onwards often state "First Edition" on the copyright page; the 1951 first of The Catcher in the Rye is an example.

Since 1940 a Little, Brown first printing has normally said "First Edition" or "First Printing" on the copyright page; in the 1930s it carried a single dated "Published" line instead, and from the late 1970s the firm added a number line.

By period

• Before the early 1930s Little, Brown generally put no first edition statement in its books.
• In the 1930s a first printing typically has one line on the copyright page giving the month and year of publication ("Published (month) (year)"). Each reprint adds another dated line, so look for a copy with only the one.
• From 1940 the copyright page of a first printing states "First Edition" or "First Printing".
• In the late 1970s Little, Brown added a number line. A first printing should show the 1, and on a later printing the lowest number left is the printing.

Atlantic Monthly Press

• From 1925 Little, Brown published the Atlantic Monthly Press list under the Little, Brown imprint, and those books follow the Little, Brown method: a single publication-date line on a first printing, with any reprints listed on the copyright page.

Traps

• Reprints keep the original date. A later printing still shows the first copyright and publication date; only the statement, or the extra printing lines, tell you the printing.
• The jacket. A first-printing book can turn up in a later-printing or book club jacket, so judge the jacket separately from the book.
• Book club copies. A club jacket usually has no price on the front flap. Many club copies are smaller than the trade edition, but Book-of-the-Month Club copies are usually the same size and quality, so size alone is no guide: look also for a small blind stamp (a dot, circle or square) on the rear board. BOMC printed prices on some jackets in the 1970s, but those copies still carry the stamp.

Example

• The Catcher in the Rye (Boston, 1951): the first printing is bound in black cloth, and the first-issue jacket has a photograph of Salinger on the back panel.