Is My A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品 (pure-literature commissioned special-work) series; it won the 11th Shinchōsha Literary Prize
• Its defining physical point is that it was issued cased in a publisher's slipcase/box (函入り, hako-iri) that carried a printed message from Ōe himself, so a complete first should retain that box; collation runs to roughly 251 pp
• Because Japanese publishers of the period rarely printed explicit printing statements, first-printing identification rests on the earliest dated colophon (奥付) reading the August 1964 first-issue date rather than a later reprint date, together with the correct slipcase and jacket; the colophon reprint date is the surest tell
• (A prize/promotional obi is not documented for the first issue and should not be treated as a required point.)

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. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The true first edition is the 1964 Japanese Kojinteki na taiken (Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1964) — the copy serious Ōe collectors pursue, and his first novel drawn directly from the birth of his son Hikari. Note that Ōe himself frames his career around two novels, this and The Silent Cry (万延元年のフットボール, 1967), which some rank as his masterpiece; but A Personal Matter is the more internationally famous title and the first Ōe translated into English, so it is the defensible signature work. The first English-language edition is A Personal Matter, translated by John Nathan (Grove Press, New York, 1968): brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine, x + 214 pp., color pictorial dust jacket by Kuhlman Associates, the printed price on the flap. It preceded the first UK edition (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1969). On the Grove first, printing status is noted on the copyright page and, per Grove practice, later-printing dust jackets carry a small letter code (e.g., "ii," "iii") on the rear panel — a true first jacket lacks that code; the practical tells are the unclipped the printed price jacket with no rear-panel letter code plus the copyright-page first-printing indication.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No prominent U.S. book-club edition of A Personal Matter is a common trap the way mid-century American fiction is; the realistic pitfalls are different. (1) Confusing the 1968 Grove Press first English printing with later Grove trade or Grove Weidenfeld reprints and the ubiquitous later Grove/Black Cat paperback — check for brown cloth, the unclipped the printed price jacket, the copyright-page first-printing notation, and the absence of a letter code on the jacket's rear panel. (2) On the Japanese side, mistaking a later Shinchōsha reprint or, especially, the later Shinchō Bunko paperback for the 1964 boxed hardcover first — verify the August 1964 colophon date and the presence of the correct slipcase. Ex-library and jacket-clipped copies, and copies lacking the Japanese slipcase, are the most common downgrades.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken) a first edition?

A first edition of A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken) by Kenzaburō Ōe (Shinchōsha) is identified by: The true first is the Japanese hardcover issued by Shinchōsha in August 1964 (Shōwa 39) within the publisher's 純文学書き下ろし特別作品 (pure-literature commissioned special-work) series; it won the 11th Shinchōsha Literary Prize.

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The true first edition is the 1964 Japanese Kojinteki na taiken (Shinchōsha, Tokyo, August 1964) — the copy serious Ōe collectors pursue, and his first novel drawn directly from the birth of his son Hikari.

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

No prominent U.S. book-club edition of A Personal Matter is a common trap the way mid-century American fiction is; the realistic pitfalls are different. (1) Confusing the 1968 Grove Press first English printing with later Grove trade or Grove Weidenfeld reprints and the ubiquitous later Grove/Black Cat paperback — check for brown cloth, the unclipped the printed price jacket, the copyright-page first-printing notation, and the absence of a letter code on the jacket's rear panel. (2) On the Japan

I have a first edition of A Personal Matter (個人的な体験 / Kojinteki na taiken) — 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.