Reprinted and expanded from: The Antique Traders Book Collector's Price Guide. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2003. A cursory guide to First Edition Identification. It is compact because of space limitations, and dealers of any size should consider one of the two books in the reference book section.

Antique Trader's First Edition Guide
What is a First Edition?

A general definition for a first edition is the first time that a written work appears in a separate cover. This is an elastic definition and can create some disagreement. To take an example:

Paso Por Aqui by Eugene Manlove Rhodes, is one of the most famous and sought after Western novels. Its first appearance was in the Saturday Evening Post in February of 1927. It was published as the second novel in Once in the Saddle by Houghton Mifflin shortly thereafter. It was republished by Houghton Mifflin in 1949 in The Best Novels and Short Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. The first edition of Paso Por Aqui, by the definition above, is by the University of Oklahoma, in 1973. However, if you can find Once in the Saddle in the first printing, you have a book worth, depending on condition, from $500. to $1000. The University of Oklahoma "first" is worth from $25. to $50.

So, when you say, "first edition" you are basically talking about the first appearance of a piece of writing in book form. Ideally, you want the first printing, the first state, complete as it was issued (with errata slips, dust jacket etc.) This is important to the collector in the same way an original painting is important to an art collector. It represents the first appearance in the real world of the piece of writing.

While it can be said each publisher has a unique way of marking first editions, there are some basic methods:

1. The date on the title page matches the copyright date, and no additional printings are listed on the verso (copyright page).
2. The verso does not list additional printings.
3. "First Edition", "First Printing","First Impression", "First Issue" or a variation of these printed on the title page or verso.
4. "First Published (date)" or "Published (date)" on the verso
5. A colophon (publishers logo) printed on the title page, verso or at the end of the book.
6. A printers code, basically a line of numbers or letters printed on the verso, showing a "1" or an A at one end or the other, with certain variations (explanation follows the chart.) If the book has an ISBN number check this first.
   

There are also unique methods which are exclusive to a single publisher or only two or three publishers (explanation and list follows the chart.)

Publisher	1	2	3	4	5	Reprint Publisher
101 Productions		x
A.A.Wyn, Inc.	x
A & C Black LTD	before 1947		after 1947
A & C Black Limited				x
A.H. & A. W. Reed		x
A. Kroch & Son		x
Adam and Charles Black			x
A.C.McClurg & Co.				x
A.S.Barnes & Co. Inc,		x
A. L. Burt						x
A. R. Mowbray		x
ABC (All Books for Children)				x
Abelard-Schuman, Ltd.				x
Abington Press		x				x
Academic Press		x
Academy Chicago		x
Ace			x
Ace/Putnam		x
Acropolis Books		x
ACS		x
Adam Hilger		x
Adastra Press					x
Adirondack Mountain Club		x
Advocado Press		x
Ashanta Press		x
Airlife Publishing				x
Aivia Press			x
Alan Sutton				x
Alan Swallow, Publisher	x			x
Alan Wolfsy		x
Alaska Northwest		x
Alabatross Books			x
Alan R. Liss		x
Albert & Charles Boni		x
Albert and Charles Boni	x
Albert Whitman	x
Albyn Press				x
Aletheia Publishing			x
Alfred Publishing		x
Alfred A, Knopf Inc.	x	x	x
Alliance Book Corporation	x
ALICEJAMES Books		x
Allan Wingate				x
Allen A. Knoll		x
Allen D. Bragdon.		x
Allen Publishing		x		x
Alpha Beat Press		x
Altamount Press			x
Altermus						x
Alyson Publications			x
Amber Lane Press		x		x
American Bar Foundation		x
American Catholic Press		x
American Library Association		x
American Publishing Company	x	x
Amphoto		x
Anchorage Press		x
Ancient City Press			x
Anderson Press				x
Andrew Dakers				x
Andrews and McMeel			x
Andre Deutsch				x
Angus and Robertson				x
Antique Collector's Club			x	x
Antonson Publishing			x
Anvil Press		x
Aperture			x
Appletree Press		x
Applezaba Press		x
Aquarian Press				x
Arcadia House	x
Architectual Book Publishing		x
Architectual Press				x
Archway Press		x
Arco Publishing Co. Inc	x
Arden Press		x
Argus Books	x
Argus Book Shop		x
Ariel Press			x
Arion Press		x
Arizona Silhouettes	x
Arkham House		x
Arlen House				x
Arlington House		x
Art and Education Publishers				x
Art Institute of Chicago		x
Artabras			x
Arthur Baker				x
Arthur H. Clark		x
Asher-Gallant		x
Ashgrove Press				x
Ashmolean Museum	x	x
Ashton Scholastic		x
Aspen Publishers		x
Associated University Presses		x
Asylum Arts		x
Atheneum Publishers			x
Atlantic Monthly Press (after 1925);	x		x
Auckland University Press				x
Avalon Press				x
Ave Maria Press		x
Avenel						x
Avon			x
B.T.Batsford				x
B.W.Dodge & Company		x
B.W.Huebach		x
Baachus Press			x
Background Books				x
Bailey Bros. & Swinfin		x
Baker & Taylor		x
Baker House		x
Bancroft-Sage		x
Banner of Truth Trust				x
Banyan Books		x
Barlenmir House			x
Barn Owl Books				x
Barnard & Westwood		x
Barre Publishing Company Inc.		x
Barricade Books			x
Bartholomew Books		x
Basil Blackwell		x
Basil Blackwell and Mott (Basil Blackwell Limited)				x
Battery Press		x
Baylor University		x
BBC Books				x
Beach Holme			x
Beacon Press	x
Beautiful America			x
Beechhurst Press		x
Beehive Press		x
Behrman House		x
Being Publications		x
Ben Abramson	x
Bergh Publishing		x
Bergin & Garvey				x
Berkshire House			x
Bern Potter			x
Bernard Geis Associates			x
Bernard's LTD				x
Bess Press		x
Better Homes and Gardens			x
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust			x
Bicycle Books		x
Big Sky			x
Big Table			x
Birch Brook Press			x
Black Lace				x
Black Swan			x
Black Tie Press			x
Black's Reader's Service						x
Blackie & (and) Son		before 1957		after 1957
Blackwell Scientific		x
Blakiston						x
Blanford Press				x
Bloch Publishing		x
Bloodaxe Books				x
Blue Dove Press			x
Blue Ribbon Books						x
Blue Star						x
Blue Wind Press		x
Boa Editions			x
Bobbs-Merrill Company			x		Before 1936
The Bodley Head				x
Bolchazy-Carducci		x
Boni & Gaer Inc.	x	x
Boni & Liveright		x	fitfully
The Book Guild Limited		x		x
Books West Southwest	x
The Borgo Press			x
Bottom Dog Press		x
Boxwood Press		x
Boydell & Brewer				x
Boydell Press				x
Boyds Mills
Bracken Books						x
Bradt Publications			before 1989	after 1989
The Branden Press		x
Brentano's	before 1927		after 1927
Brewer & Warren	x	x
Brewer, Warren and Putnam	x	x
Brewin Books					x
Brick Row			x	x
Bridge	+ Code 1-10
British Academy		x
British Library				x
British Museum				x
British Museum Press				x
Broadside Press			x
Brockhampton Press		x
Brompton Books		x
Bronx County Historical Society		x
Brooke House		x
Brookings Institute		x
Brooklyn Botanic Garden		x
Brown, Son & Ferguson			x
Bruccoli Clark Layman			x
Bruce Humphries, Inc.	x				x
Bruce Publishing (Milwaukee, WI)		x
Bulfinch Press			x
Bull Run of Vermont		x
Burgess & Wickizer			x
Burke Publishing				x
Burning Cities		x
Burning Deck		x
Burns & Mac Eachern		x
Burns, Oates & Washbourne			After 1937	Before 1937
Bush Press			x
Butterworth & Co.		x
Butterworth-Heinemann				x
Butterworth Scientific				x
Butterworths				x
Butterworths PTY		x
C. & J. Temple				x
C.M.Clarke Publishing Co.		x
C. V. Mosby		x
C. W. Daniel				x
Caddo Gap		x
Cadmus Editions			x
Calder Publications			x
California Institute of Public Affairs		x
California State University Press		x
Cambridge University Press (UK & Australia)			x
Cambridge University Press (North America)				x
Camden House			x
Camelot			x
Cameron Associates	x
Camino E.E. & Book Co.		x
Canada Law Book		x
Canterbury University Press				x
Capra		x
Captain Fiddle			x
Caratzas Brothers		x
Carcanet New Press				x
Cardoza			x
Carnegie Mellon			x
Carolina Academic Press		x
Carolina Wren Press		x
Carolrhoda Books		x
Carriage House					x
Carpenter Press			x
Carstens		x
Cassell & Co.		before 1976		after 1976
Cassell LTD				x
Cassell Publishers/ PLC				x
Castalia Bookmakers