How to Identify a First Edition Book

If you are a book collector, it is essential that you know how to differentiate a true first edition from other editions. True first editions represent the very first publication of an author's story in book form. Many book sellers, especially on eBay and other Internet auction houses, will often advertise books as first editions when they are actually later editions or book club releases, sometimes done knowingly in hopes of the book selling for more than it is worth, and sometimes because they don't know how to determine a first edition themselves. So it is very important when buying first edition books online to ask the right questions before placing a bid. But before you can ask the right questions, you need to know what those questions are.

Usually two questions will be enough, but sometimes a few more are necessary and you might even need to do a little research first before asking them. The two questions that can be copied right from this article and pasted into your inquiry and will suffice for most books published during the past 25 years are:

"What is the printed price on the dust jacket? Is the number line on the copyright page complete and including the number 1?"

However, other questions might be:

"Who published the book? What year was the book published? Is there any damage to the book or any rips, tears, or excessive shelf wear to the dust cover? Is there any writing in the book such as a previous owner's name (PON), dates, or messages?"

There are many factors that will bring down the value of a book, even if it is a true first edition. In fact, amazingly enough, 90% of the value of a true first edition book lies in the condition of the dust jacket (or the cover and spine if it is a paperback original [PBO]) and not in the book itself.