Simon & Schuster

• Up to the early 1950s Simon & Schuster put no first-edition statement in its books: a first printing has a clean copyright page, while later printings are noted there.
• Where a printing line appears on the copyright page, the lowest number shows the printing, whatever order the numbers run in; a line with a 1 normally indicates a first printing.
• Book club editions are a common trap: their jackets usually carry no price on the front flap, so a priced jacket is one of the first things to check.

Simon & Schuster has always marked its reprints rather than relying on a first edition statement, so a copy whose copyright page shows no later printing, or whose number line includes 1, is normally a first printing.

By period

• From 1924 to the early 1950s Simon & Schuster put no first edition statement in its books: a first printing has a plain copyright page, while later printings are noted there, often with the printing number and date.
• From about 1952 many first printings say "First Edition" or "First Printing", but not every title does. The safest test is the negative one: if nothing on the copyright page says the copy is a later printing, it is almost certainly the first.
• From the early 1970s the firm used a number line on the copyright page, occasionally alongside a "First Printing" statement.
• The lowest number in the line shows the printing, whatever order the numbers run in (for example "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2"); a line with a 1 indicates a first printing.

Traps

• Book club copies. Book-of-the-Month Club copies are usually the same size and quality as the trade edition, so size is no guide. Their jackets usually carry no price on the front flap, so a priced jacket is one of the first things to check, and many have a small blind stamp (a dot, circle or square) low on the rear board; BOMC printed prices on some jackets in the 1970s, but those copies still carry the stamp. The copyright page may still read like a trade copy.

Example

• Catch-22 (1961): the first printing states "First Printing" on the copyright page, is bound in blue cloth with the top edges stained red, and has a jacket priced $5.95 on the front flap with Joseph Heller's photograph on the back panel.