A recent announcement from a small press in the horror genre has brought upon a great debate about how publishers should handle their business with regard to limited editions. I will discuss the idea of limited editions and small presses in a later entry and I will not editorialize about this publisher and his decision.This is not the blog for that.
However it has brought about a great opportunity to discuss Editions. Little thought is put towards editions by the average reader or book buyer. Collectors, as in many other instances, are a different breed. They thrive on what edition a book is. Along with condition, where it came from, and who owned it prior to the purchase, the edition and printing are very important.
First Editions are just that. They are the first impression of a book that is sold to the public. The ABBA has a great definition
All of the copies printed from the first setting of type; can include multiple printings if all are from the same setting of type. Every printed book has a first edition, many never have later editions. A later edition would have substantial changes in the printing plates or type such as the addition of a new preface or new chapter or major changes throughout the text and often is printed from a complete resetting of the type. When book collectors use the term first edition, they are usually referring to the first printing and if there are different states or issues, the earliest of those.
There can be a First US Edition, a First UK Edition, a First Limited Edition and so on. These three are probably the most significant First edition labels. There are certain publishers that might state on the copyright page that a certain book is the First Harcourt Edition. This is virtually meaningless unless that edition was the first to ever hit the stands.
For collectors the First US and the First UK editions are the most important. A subset of collectors may find the First Limited Edition as important. But those are a breed of editions unto themselves.
Depending on when the UK or US edition was released determines which is the True first edition. Some are simultaneously released some are released first in the US or the UK. When the book is released at the same time most collectors would value the edition from the country of origin of the author as the more sought after edition. Some would put equal weight and want to acquire both.
All books go through at least one edition and one printing. This means that the book is set and printed for a specific number of copies. Say 5000. When this first printing of 5000 is sold out and the publisher wants to bring more product to the market they can do two things; They can resend the same setting back to the printer and print another 5000 copies or they can expand, contract, alter, or make changes to the book then send it back to the printer.
If they do the former this is called a Second Printing. If they end up doing the latter the edition changes and that becomes the Second Edition of the book. This usually happens more with nonfiction work than fiction. Though it does happen with fiction. A quick example is THE STAND by STEPHEN KING. Its First Edition came out in 1978 King added back the excised text and was produced again in 1991 as Uncut and Expanded. Really, it was the Second Edition.
Back to the ABAA for a excellent definition of printings:
[Printings]include the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same plates or setting of type. If 500 copies of a book are printed on Oct. 5 and 300 copies are printed from the same substantially unchanged plates on Dec. 10, all 800 copies are part of the same edition. Printing: the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same press run or from the same plates or setting of type at one time. In the example given for “Edition” above, the 500 copies would be the first printing and the 300 copies comprise the second printing. In the 19th century some publishers labeled later printings as if they were later editions, i.e. a second printing would be called a “second edition” on the copyright page.
There is something called a State of a printing. A State is something that is rather interesting. As the book is being printed and the Printer notices a mistake, alteration, broken or misaligned type setting, or something akin to that in this digital age, he would stop the printing and reset the setting and continue the job.
The books that are printed after the correction are considered the Second State of printing. Usually no one cares unless it may affect the value of the book. First and Second states of a first edition can vary in value depending on the book in question.
From the ABAA site once more:
. . .a portion of a printing with changes such as minor alterations to the text either intentional or accidental; insertion of cancels, advertisements, or insertions; copies on different paper without intention of creating a separate issue; and other changes other than folding or collating or binding. An example would be when a pressman discovers battered or broken type, stops the presses and resets that portion of the page by replacing the broken type and then resumes the printing.
Variants are something minor when it comes to editions. A variant is based on mostly cosmetic changes between books printed in the same edition and same print run. Those differences could include different dust jackets (like the second edition of GOOD OMENS by NEIL GAIMAN and TERRY PRATCHETT), end papers, binding, or other cosmetic differences.
What about Advanced Readers Copies? Or paperbacks? Trade paperbacks? Book Club Editions?
How about I discuss those in Part 2.
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