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A Question that goes Right to the Heart of Book Collecting:
What Is A First Edition??

n Aug. 20, 2021, I was invited to be on Michael Ivankovitch’s illustrated it; or who published it; or even who owned it. Even a boring
radio show What’s It Worth? to talk about old books. It aired book that was owned by someone famous like, say, Benjamin Franklin
Oon WBCB 1490 AM out of Philadelphia. Besides being a radio with his signature in it, would have value over and above the actual value
personality, Mike is an auctioneer, appraiser, and lecturer on antiques. of the book.
Mike reads my articles on book collecting in the Journal of Antiques and
Collectibles, and so since he was kind enough to mention my columns, Scarcity – Good, and Bad
I’m mentioning his show. Every week is about a different collectible. It Like most anything else, collecting and value boil down to supply and
was a lot of fun to do and if you missed it, you can listen to a podcast of demand. A first edition might be valuable because it’s scarce. Or not.
the show at https://michaelivankovichappraisals.com/radioshow.htm Scarcity may not in itself be enough if nobody wants it. Someone’s boring
book of terrible poetry self-published in an edition of 50 copies would
Good Question probably be next to worthless if only 3 people in the world wanted it!
Some of the things that Mike asked me was, “What is a first edition, But scarcity can make a big difference if the book or author is
and are all first editions valuable?” These are important questions and go desirable. Collectible authors like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling’s later
to the heart of book collecting. Sometimes the dark heart! books were printed in first editions of tens of thousands of copies because
To start with, the terminology is confusing because what everyone, they were such hugely popular authors. However, their first books, like
including dealers and collectors, means by “first King’s Carrie and the first English edition of
edition” is actually the first printing of a Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, are
first edition because the edition of a book worth big money because their first books were
is usually made up of several printings. printed in small numbers. After all, King and
The first printing is the first batch of Rowling were not famous yet, and no one
books printed in one fell swoop off the knew that they would be. Also, the first English
printing press. We are talking about old edition of the Potter is worth more than the
books here when there were such things as first U.S. edition.
printing presses! So, this means that if a serious collector
So when I say “first edition” here, what wants first editions of all of a particular author’s
I really mean is the first printing of the works, the early first editions like these will
first edition! usually be the hardest to find and the most
valuable since as I mentioned already, there
The Total Process of the First can be as many later printings of any book, but
only one first printing.
Ed – er – Printing
When the first printing of a book was Exceptions
sold out, the publisher would print Sounds simple, except, of course, it’s not
another batch and so on. If the book was Before the series became the bestseller we know today, always as straightforward as this because an
popular and sold well, there could be as then-unknown author Rowling published just 500 copies of edition of a book can not only be made up of
her book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s
many new printings as needed. If there Stone in the U.S.). One of the copies from this first run has sold printings but a first printing of a book can
was only the first printing then of course for approximately $90,000 at Bonhams in March, 2019, far itself sometimes be made up of states or issues.
that would be the first edition, otherwise, above the original estimate of $53,000 and $79,000. Not all, but some.
we would have the first edition, first A first printing may have issue points or
printing, followed by the first edition, second printing, first edition, states which are changes that occur during a printing – either an error was
third printing, etc. discovered and corrected (the corrected part of the printing is the second
First editions (i.e. first printings) can be valuable because they are issue) or perhaps a piece of type breaks during the printing (broken type
unique. There can only be one first edition/first printing. And collectors copies would be the second issue). If there were no errors or type breaks
like it when something is unique. or if errors were not corrected during the printing then there are no issue
Therefore, this doesn’t mean that all first editions are valuable! Not points. Many first editions do not have issue points, but it is important
necessarily. Since all books have to have a first edition (or obviously they to know those that do. A first printing first issue of The Adventures of
wouldn’t exist), only first editions of collectible books would have value Huckleberry Finn can be worth about $2,000 more than the first printing
unlike the first edition of a boring, unreadable book which would not later issue of the book.
because no one would care that it’s the first edition.
And there are many things that can make a first edition collectible and Next month: how do you tell if your book is a first edition?
valuable. For instance: who wrote it; or what the subject is; or who

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

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