First edition vs first printing: what’s the difference?

First edition, first printing, first impression, first state: what each term means, how to read a copyright page and why the difference matters to collectors.

· 2 min read

Collectors use “first edition” loosely, and sellers even more so. The precise terms matter, because the value of a book can change dramatically between one printing and the next.

Edition

Strictly, an edition is all the copies printed from substantially the same setting of type. A publisher can print a first edition many times without resetting it. Each of those print runs is part of the first edition.

Printing and impression

A printing (in British usage, an impression) is a single print run. The first printing of the first edition, often written “first edition, first printing” or “1st/1st”, is the copy most collectors mean when they say “first edition”. Later printings of the first edition are usually worth much less.

Issue and state

Within a first printing there can be variations:

  • A state is a change made during the print run, such as a typo corrected partway through.
  • An issue is a change made after some copies were published, such as a cancelled leaf or a new title page.

These “points” are how specialists tell the earliest copies apart, and why bibliographies list them so carefully.

Reading the copyright page

Modern publishers usually identify the printing on the copyright page:

  • A number line such as 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. The lowest number shows the printing, so a line ending in 1 generally indicates a first printing. Some publishers remove numbers from the other end, so check which convention applies.
  • A statement such as “First published in 1971” or “First Edition”. Later printings often add “Second printing” or a list of reprint dates.
  • No statement at all. Some publishers never marked first printings. For those you need publisher-specific knowledge or a bibliography.

Other clues

  • Price on the jacket. A jacket with the original price, not price-clipped, helps confirm an early jacket.
  • Matching jacket and book. A first-printing jacket on a later-printing book (or the reverse) is a “married” copy and is worth less.
  • Book club editions can look like firsts. See how to spot a book club edition.

Use the words sellers use

Because sellers describe the same thing in different ways, search for each: “first edition”, “1st edition”, “first printing”, “1st/1st”, “first impression”. ShelfProud can run every variation for you on a schedule and tell you only about new listings.

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