Is My A Room of One's Own a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Two issues, three days apart
• Signed limited issue (Kirkpatrick A12a
• Woolmer 215A): printed in the United States by Robert S. Josephy and published 21 October 1929
• 492 numbered copies, 450 of them for sale, each signed by Woolf in purple ink on the half-title; bound in red cloth, uncut
• The colophon names the Fountain Press, with distribution in America by Random House and in Great Britain by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press
• Hogarth trade issue (Kirkpatrick A12b): published 24 October 1929; collation [iv], 5-172; publisher's cloth in a salmon/cinnamon-orange shade (dealers describe the shade variously as salmon, cinnamon or orange), spine lettered in gilt; pink dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell, printed in dark blue with a clock on a desk within an oval alcove, unclipped copies retaining the price at the flap

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. 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.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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 census note that the Hogarth trade is 'the reference first' is wrong on precedence and is corrected here. Per Kirkpatrick A12, the Fountain Press/Hogarth signed limited was published in New York on 21 October 1929 and preceded the English edition by three days; the Hogarth trade followed on 24 October 1929, the limited reaching the UK the same day. Harcourt, Brace issued the American trade edition in New York on 24 October as well, alongside Hogarth's. Both the signed limited and the Hogarth trade are collected and both should be named: the Fountain Press limited holds date precedence as the true first, while the Hogarth trade is the standard English first and the reference text.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The Hogarth first impression is told from its reprints by the title verso: the first carries only the R. & R. Clark printer's imprint and no impression statement, whereas later Hogarth impressions add a printed list ('Second impression October 1929', 'Third impression November 1929', 'Fourth impression December 1929', 'Fifth impression March 1930'). One caution: that printed list on the later impressions gives first publication as September 1929, against the October dates recorded in the bibliographies — the discrepancy is unresolved and the month on a reprint's statement should not be used to date the first. No book-club issue is documented for 1929.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of A Room of One's Own a first edition?

A first edition of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (Fountain Press) is identified by: Two issues, three days apart.

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 census note that the Hogarth trade is 'the reference first' is wrong on precedence and is corrected here.

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

The Hogarth first impression is told from its reprints by the title verso: the first carries only the R. & R. Clark printer's imprint and no impression statement, whereas later Hogarth impressions add a printed list ('Second impression October 1929', 'Third impression November 1929', 'Fourth impression December 1929', 'Fifth impression March 1930'). One caution: that printed list on the later impressions gives first publication as September 1929, against the October dates recorded in the bibliog

I have a first edition of A Room of One's Own — 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.