We are an online reference guide providing collectors the details
necessary to help identify modern first edition books.

The key to establishing a book's value is to first ensure that it meets all of its First Edition Points. First Edition Points are details about what a book looked like when it was initially printed as a first edition. Collectors look for first printings of first edition books because these tend to have the highest demand and the greatest potential to increase in value over time. First Edition Points help a collector identify a first edition by describing details such as a book's binding, a specific first printing typo, or a dust jacket review that can only be found on the first printing. First Edition Points are usually subtle, but they are important features that distinguish a rare first edition from a common reprint.

The most common First Edition Point can be found on a book's copyright page. The copyright page may say that a book is a first edition, or a first printing, or first impression; and it may state additional printing information, or it may provide a printing code indicating what printing a book is from. Each publisher has used various methods over the years to indicate a book's edition and printing. Another common First Edition Point is a book's cover price, which is typically printed on the dust jacket. The presence of a price on a dust jacket is also the most fundamental way to ensure that the dust jacket is not from a book club edition. Book club editions look similar to genuine first editions, but they are not first editions, and they have very little collectible value.

To find First Edition Points for a specific book, simply type in the name of the book, or the name of the author in the fields above; or browse all of our available points of issue by clicking on the bars at the bottom of this page. We have pages for hundreds of collectible books where we describe First Edition Points, provide photographs of known first editions, and provide pre-filled eBay, AbeBooks, and Biblio search links for each book so you can quickly establish its most recent market value.

July 01, 2009

The Fortunate Pilgrim was written by Mario Puzo. The first edition was published in 1965 by Atheneum. It was 301 pages long, and the retail price was $5.75.

First edition Points: First Edition is stated on the copyright page. Boards are maroon with brown cloth spine and gold lettering and orange top stain. Endpapers are pea-green and author's name is blindstamped on front. The illustrator, John O'Hara Cosgrave II, also designed the dust jacket for James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. Click here for more photos...

June 30, 2009

The mambo kings play songs of love: a novel was written by Oscar Hijuelos. The first edition was published in 1989 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It was 407 pages long, and the retail price was $18.95. The mambo kings play songs of love: a novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Here are the first edition points: "FIRST EDITION, 1989" stated on copyright page. Bound in orange cloth with two gold crowns on the front, and gold lettering on the spine. Back of dust jacket has five reviews for the author's first novel. The book was first published on August 21, 1989, and according to the Advance Reading Copy there were 40,000 first printings. Click here for more photos...

June 29, 2009

The Shipping News was written by Annie Proulx. The first edition was published in 1993 by Charles Scribner's Sons. It was 337 pages long, and the retail price was $20.00. The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award.

Here are the first edition points: Copyright page has number line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1". Click here for more photos...

June 28, 2009

The Killer Angels was written by Michael Shaara. The first edition was published in 1974 by McKay. It was 374 pages long, and the retail price was $8.95. The Killer Angels won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The first edition points are as follows: Copyright page has 5 lines of text on the top, and five lines of text on the bottom. The 5 lines on the top include the copyright year of 1974 and no other years nor any statement of subsequent printings. The 5 lines on the bottom include by-lines, identification numbers, and manufacturing information. Boards are light blue cloth with darker blue paper spine. The dust jacket has photo of the author on the back with no reviews and no bar code. Click here for more photos...

June 25, 2009

The Onion Field was written by Joseph Wambaugh. The first edition was published in 1973 by Delacorte Press. It was 427 pages long, and the retail price was $8.95.

Here are the first edition points: "First printing 1973" is stated on the copyright page. Dust jacket has a photo of the author on the back and a single review by Truman Capote. The dust jacket remains exactly the same until at least the fifth printing. Boards are black with gold lettering on the spine, and red and blue metalic lines across spine and front. Published in September 1973. Click here for more photos...

June 20, 2009

Bodily Harm was written by Margaret Atwood. The first edition was published in 1981 by McClelland & Stewart. It was 301 pages long, and the retail price was $16.95.

First edition Points: The true first is the Canadian edition with no statement of subsequent printings on the copyright page. boards are cream with purple spine. Dust jacket has photo of the author on the back with no reviews. back dust jacket flap has six reviews. Click here for more photos...

June 09, 2009

Red Storm Rising was written by Tom Clancy. The first edition was published in 1986 by Putnam. It was 652 pages long, and the retail price was $19.95.

Here are the first edition points: Copyright page has full number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10". Boards are slightly marbled black with navy blue cloth spine, and gold lettering. The dust jacket remained the same until at least the 19th printing. It has nine reviews on the back for The Hunt for Red October that begins with a long quote from the Washington Post, and a three word quote from President Ronald Reagan. The book was published in August, 1986. Click here for more photos...

June 07, 2009

Portnoy's Complaint was written by Philip Roth. The first edition was published in 1969 by Random House. It was 274 pages long, and the retail price was $6.95.

Here are the first edition points: There is a bit of confusion about whether the Limited Edition or the so called "First Trade Edition" is the true first. While the limited edition is certainly desireable because it is signed and there were only 600 copies produced, we believe that the first trade edition is the true first edition. We say this not because we believe that one was released before the other, but rather because we believe that the first trade edition was intended to be the true first. We base this conclusion on the fact that the first trade edition's copyright page specifically states "First Printing", while the copyright page on the limited edition has no indication of first printing or first edition. Furthermore, the signature page on the limited edition simply says "LIMITED EDITION" and not limited first edition. That said, we would imagine that a signed trade edition would be more valuable than a limited edition. However, unsigned trade editions will probably continue to be less valuable than the limited edition because the signature makes up for its less-than-first status.

Now to address the points of the first trade edition, which we will refer to as simply "the first edition". "First Printing" is stated on the copyright page. The boards are navy blue cloth with gold lettering and red top stain. The back of the first issue jacket has two reviews for Goodbye, Columbus (beginning with one from Saul Bellow), two reviews for Letting Go, and two reviews for When She Was Good.

Every first edition we have located has a clipped dust jacket, with a price still present at the edge of the clip. This suggests that there was an original price that was considered a mistake by the publisher. So they probably clipped the orginal price off and reprinted a correct price before releasing the book to the public. The corrected price is $6.95, and it is not clear what the original mistake price was. It would be great to hear from someone who has a first edition with an unclipped first issue jacket and a price other than $6.95.

Later printing dust jackets have the corrected $6.95 price in the normal position, and are of course unclipped. They are otherwise identical to first edition jackets. Click here for more photos...

June 04, 2009

Tracks was written by Louise Erdrich. The first edition was published in 1988 by Henry Holt. It was 226 pages long, and the retail price was $18.95.

The first edition points are as follows: First Edition is stated above full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2". Boards are oatmeal with copper tracks on the front, and copper lettering on dark brown cloth spine. The book was published in September 1988. Back of dust jacket has three reviews for The Beet Queen, five reviews for Love Medicine (by Philip Roth, Anne Tyler, Kay Boyle, Peter Matthiessen, and Toni Morrison), and a single review for Jacklight. Click here for more photos...

May 21, 2009

Jarhead was written by Anthony Swofford. The first edition was published in 2003 by Scribners. It was 260 pages long, and the retail price was $24.00.

First edition Points: Copyright page has full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2". Boards are gray with silver lettering on black cloth spine. Back of dust jacket has five reviews - by Scott Anderson, Joy Williams, Chris Offut, William Boyd, and Jonathan Shay. Back flap has photo of the author. Published in March of 2003, and basis of the 2005 film by the same name.

From the dust jacket - "Unlike the real-time print and television coverage of the Gulf War, which was highly scripted by the Pentagon, Swofford's account subverts the conventional wisdom that U.S. military interventions are now merely surgical insertions of superior forces that result in few American casualties. Jarhead insists we remember the Americans who are in fact wounded or killed, the fields of enemy corpes left behind, and the continuing difficulty that American soldiers have reentering civilian life." Click here for more photos...

May 20, 2009

Bel Canto was written by Ann Patchett. The first edition was published in 2001 by Harper Collins. It was 318 pages long, and the retail price was $25.00.

Here are the first edition points: Copyright pages has full number line "01 02 03 04 05 RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1". Boards are dark purple with gold lettering on cloth textured spine. Back of dust jacket has four reviews - by A. Manette Ansay, Madison Smart Bell, The New Yorker, and San Francisco Chronicle. Back flap has photo of the author. Click here for more photos...

May 19, 2009

On Wings of Eagles was written by Ken Follett. The first edition was published in 1983 by Collins. It was 447 pages long, and the retail price was £9.95.

The first edition points are as follows: While we have no evidence to say this definitively, we believe the true first edition was published in the UK. We say this because the author is British and his other books were published in the UK. However because On Wings of Eagles is a non-fiction account of American citizens (including Ross Perot), there is a possibility that the U.S. edition might have been published first. Regardless of which was first, the UK edition seems to be more valuable, especially when signed by the author.

The first UK edition states "First published 1983" with no statements of subsequent impressions or printings. The boards are cream cloth with gold lettering on the spine. The back of the dust jacket has a photo of the author with no reviews. Click here for more photos...

May 16, 2009

Children of Men was written by P.D. James. The first edition was published in 1992 by Faber and Faber. It was 239 pages long, and the retail price was £14.99.

Here are the first edition points: The first edition was published in the UK. Copyright pages states "First published in 1992" on the top, with full number line "2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1" on the bottom. Boards are black cloth with white lettering. Dust jacket has three reviews on the back.

The first U.S. edition was published by Knopf in 1993. Click here for more photos...

May 14, 2009

Patriot Games was written by Tom Clancy. The first edition was published in 1987 by Putnam. It was 540 pages long, and the retail price was $19.95.

The first edition points are as follows: Copyright page has full number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10". Boards are light gray with off-white cloth spine and gold lettering. Back of dust jacket has seven reviews, and ISBN 0-399-13241-4 on the bottom corner. The book is 9.25 inches tall, and approximately 6.5 inches across.

The book club edition is smaller, it lacks a price on the jacket flap, and does not have the proper ISBN on the back of the dust jacket. Click here for more photos...

May 12, 2009

The Da Vinci Code was written by Dan Brown. The first edition was published in 2003 by Doubleday. It was 454 pages long, and the retail price was $24.95 .

The first edition points are as follows: First Edition is stated with the number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page. The dust jacket carries a price of $24.95. A comparison of two first printing dust jackets with several later printing jackets suggests that the first printing jacket flaps have a color that is slightly more gold than later printing flaps, which have more of a silver tone. Boards are black with black cloth spine.

Note: The book club edition also states First Edition and has the same number line as the true first edition. But the book club edition is one inch shorter (8.5 inches versus 9.5 inches) than the true first edition, and the dust jacket has no price. Click here for more photos...

May 09, 2009

Ahab's Wife was written by Sena Jeter Naslund. The first edition was published in 1999 by Morrow and Company. It was 668 pages long, and the retail price was $28.00.

Here are the first edition points: First Edition is stated above full number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" on the copyright page. Boards are cream with gold lettering on tan spine. Back of dust jacket has eight reviews - by Bret Lott, Gail Godwin, Wally Lamb, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Elizabeth Renker, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. Illustrations by Christopher Wormell. Click here for more photos...

April 30, 2009

Thirteen Days was written by Robert F. Kennedy. The first edition was published in 1969 by Norton & Company, Inc.. It was 224 pages long, and the retail price was $5.50.

Here are the first edition points: "First Edition January 20, 1969" is stated on the copyright page with full number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0". No book club imprint is embossed on the rear board. Dust jacket price of $5.50 is located on the bottom corner of the front flap. Caption on page 133 says Townley Smith instead of Bromley Smith. Caption on page 138 says Sorenson instead of Sorensen. Includes an errata slip that points out these errors. Click here for more photos...

April 27, 2009

The Stone Diaries was written by Carol Shields. The first edition was published in 1993 by Fourth Estate. It was 361 pages long, and the retail price was £12.99. The Stone Diaries won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The first edition points are as follows: The UK and Canadian editions were both published in 1993 and precede the U.S. edition which was published in 1994. The UK and Canadian editions have the same jacket art and are of similar size, and both were printed and bound in the UK.

The U.S. edition has different cover art and is larger. Because the U.S. edition was published a year later (1994), it was eligible to win the Pulitzer in 1995 even though it was first published in 1993.

Click here for more photos...

April 26, 2009

Amy and Isabelle was written by Elizabeth Strout. The first edition was published in 1998 by Random House. It was 304 pages long, and the retail price was $22.95.

Here are the first edition points: First Edition is stated below Random House number line "24689753". Board are white with gold lettering on a beige spine. Back of dust jacket has a single review by Alice Munro. Click here for more photos...

April 19, 2009

The Lazarus Project was written by Aleksandar Hemon. The first edition was published in 2008 by Riverhead Books. It was 294 pages long, and the retail price was $24.95.

First edition Points: Copyright page has full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2". Boards are blue with brown cloth spine. Back of dust jacket has four reviews - by The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Book Review, and Los Angeles Times. The back flap has a photo and bio of the author. Click here for more photos...

This website is intended to help guide you and give you insight into what to look for when identifying first editions. As such, the information presented here may not always be 100% accurate. Gathering and updating information about these books is more an art than a science, so some of our first edition points may be wrong. If you spot a mistake, drop us an e-mail and we will do our best to investigate and fix it.

We are an online reference guide providing collectors the details necessary to help identify modern first edition books.

We are an online reference guide providing collectors the details
necessary to help identify modern first edition books.