Any knowledgeable book collectors here?

[Byron haugh]

I have two copies of the hard bound book "Hatches". One book simply has the original copyright date. The other book has the same date and below that is printed "first Printing".
Is it worth more?
How would they know that there would be more than one printing???

Thanks

[WarrenP]

Byron,

My wife is a book collecting nut and she informed me that the book you have that is marked, "First Printing", is worth more than the one with only the copyright date on it. How much more she cannot say. It is worth more because that is the first printing and if there is more printed, they would not be worth as much as the First Printing. I guess it would be like the "First Printing" is the original and all that follow would be copies. As to how many were made and marked first printing is an unknown and only the publisher would be able to answer that.

[Byron haugh]

Thanks Warren. Appreciate that. Would she entertain follow-up questions?
If so:
1. It's like saying WWI in 1917.....how would you know there would be more world wars? More printings?
2. I have a lot of first edition books that I know we're first printings as there were no other printings, but they don't say that....."First printing".

Appreciate your help

[Allan]

Thanks Warren. Appreciate that. Would she entertain follow-up questions?
If so:
1. It's like saying WWI in 1917.....how would you know there would be more world wars? More printings?
2. I have a lot of first edition books that I know we're first printings as there were no other printings, but they don't say that....."First printing".

Appreciate your help

Byron,

Does the '1st printing' have the same date as the 'plain' one? Same price on cover? Same # of pages and do the pages have identical content? Try looking up potential value on one of the angling book sites.

[John Rhoades]

As a follow on question, is there a difference between a "printing" and an "edition", such as a second printing and a second edition, etc?

[Byron haugh]

Here is a pic of the version with "First Printing" below the copyright info.






The other looks the same, but without "First Printing".
Now, another question is this. Assuming the one with "First Printing" was printed before the "plain" one, and you bought the "plain" one, how would you know there had been a "First Printing"???
Wouldn't you think that if they anticipated multiple printings, each would have a number of printing on it; i.e., second printing, third printing, etc.

I have a rather large collection of fly tying/fishing books. I know many were one and only printings. This is the first one I have ever seen with "First Printing" on it.
By the way, the one with "First Printing" was priced (by the publisher) at a lower price than the one that has nothing except the copyright date.............


Here is the "plain" one.

[Allan]

Interesting. Hey, maybe it was a 'typo'?

[WarrenP]

Does this help or just muddy the water more:

Resolved Question

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What is the difference between a "first edition" and a "first printing" of a book?

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by Roger Member since: October 04, 2008 Total points: 34,150 (Level 7)

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Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

In many cases the terms are used interchangeably and somewhat carelessly. There is, however, a technical distinction.

The first edition of a book consists of books made from the the initial typesetting and all printings ("going back to press") of that book made from that typesetting (as originally designed and typeset).

_This Side of Paradise_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald came out in April 1920. Twice that month the supply of the novel sold out, so the publisher, Scribners, made more. Those are the first, second, and third printings of the book. In May some spelling and other errors were noted in the book; these were changed and the book, unaltered except for those changes, was reprinted. That is the fourth printing within the first edition. In 1948 the book was still being printed from those plates, although the dust jacket was altered; those are later printings of the first edition.

In 1959, however, the text of the book was re-set. There was a different number of pages, and the book looked substantially different. That is the second edition of the book.

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Booksellers sometimes use "first edition" to mean only the first printing of a book, and some publishers adopt this confusing terminology by printing "first edition" on the first printing and "second edition" on the second printing. Technically, from a bibliographical standpoint, this is wrong.

[Byron haugh]

Warren,
Yes, I saw that and other similar statements. It still doesn't seem to explain why the oldest copy of the book I have says "First Printing", and the newer copy says nothing about being a subsequent printing or a second or later edition.

As an example, I grabbed my copy of "Flies" by Leonard. Now, this is a cheap hardbound version and you will note that it says "13th Printing".................

I doubt I will ever know why the newer copy of the book I have does not say "second....third...or some other number Printing" even though it was later than the first. I know this because the publisher's dust jacket on the first one has a printed price about $10 less than the subsequent one......




My guess is that since Hatches was basically self-published, perhaps they didn't follow any certain convention?

[WarrenP]

Byron,

I think you have a very good question, but, I am not sure there is an answer. This is a very confusing situation and what research I have done just makes me more confused! : ) I guess we will just have to go fishing.....