How to identify a modern first edition book- book collecting a beginners guide.
The following should be of great help to anyone wanting to start book collecting, it is not exhaustive and is only an initial guideline:
Book collectors are mainly interested in the First Edition and First Printing/impression (referred to as the first/first) of a title because it is the very first printing and state that the book becomes available in. It is more difficult to obtain as time goes by (many popular first editions were published in small quantities because the author was unknown and only became popular post publishing of their respective book). This is especially true when there are many more reprints/editions of the book in publication/circulation during the following years.
It should also be noted that Hardback books are more sought after and more valuable than paperback books.
There are several methods you can use to determine the edition of a book (however, it is advised to confirm true dates of first editions by consulting an author's bibliography, many of which are available on the web).
The usual methods of identification are:
a) Firstly, and most common - publishers usually use a numeric system for identifying the Edition of the book. On the Copyright and Dedication Pages, you will usually find a string of numbers (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) which indicate the edition number. For instance, if the numbers from 1 to 10 are shown, you have a First Edition First Impression (1 represents the First, 2 represents the second, 3 represents the third and so on). A first edition second impression would show 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (the number 1 has gone). Some publishers show the numbers in a different form (such as 10987654321 or even 13579108642) or use letters (such as abcdefghi).
b) Some publishers simply state that it is a 'First Edition', or 'First Impression', or 'First Printing', and do not include the edition numbers as above Normally referred to a 'Stated First Edition First Impression'.
c) Some publishers simply state 'First Published' followed by the year (e.g. 'First Published 1990'), and if there are no further printings indicated with subsequent dates, then you may well have the first edition.
d) Some publishers make no distinction at all and further information or verification would need to be found by searching through the author's bibliography which will state the true first edition date and publisher of the book. (you wouldn't want to be mistaking a Book Club Edition for a true First Edition, would you?).
Find A Book
You can use the google custom search tool to find similar books to yours, it may give you an idea of the value. Simply enter the author's name or title of the book you are looking for.