Is My A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, Baronet Publishing/Baronet Books, New York, October 1978, stating 'First printing, October 1978.' Issued in two simultaneous formats: a hardcover and a trade softcover
• The hardcover was a limited issue of 1,500 copies, signed and numbered by Eisner on the front free endpaper, bound in cloth with gilt stamping and issued WITHOUT a dust jacket
• The softcover was issued in illustrated wraps and is the more commonly encountered first issue
• Widely credited with popularizing the term 'graphic novel.'

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

US true first and a foundational graphic-novel landmark. The signed and numbered hardcover (1,500 copies, no jacket) and the simultaneous trade softcover are both first edition. Later Kitchen Sink, DC, and W.W. Norton editions are first-thus.P-033073

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition; later Kitchen Sink (1985 onward), DC, and W.W. Norton (2006) printings come well after the 1978 Baronet first. Verify the Baronet imprint, the October 1978 date, and for the hardcover the signed and numbered limitation. Do not expect a dust jacket on the hardcover; none was issued.P-033074

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories a first edition?

A first edition of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner (Baronet Books) is identified by: First edition, Baronet Publishing/Baronet Books, New York, October 1978, stating 'First printing, October 1978.' Issued in two simultaneous formats: a hardcover and a trade softcover.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. US true first and a foundational graphic-novel landmark.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club edition; later Kitchen Sink (1985 onward), DC, and W.W. Norton (2006) printings come well after the 1978 Baronet first. Verify the Baronet imprint, the October 1978 date, and for the hardcover the signed and numbered limitation. Do not expect a dust jacket on the hardcover; none was issued.

I have a first edition of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.