Is My A Treatise of Human Nature a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published anonymously - Hume's name appears nowhere in the first edition, so any title page naming him as author is a later edition
• Volumes I (Of the Understanding) and II (Of the Passions) were printed for John Noon and issued together in late January 1739; volume III (Of Morals) was printed for Thomas Longman and followed in late 1740, so a complete first edition necessarily carries two different publishers' imprints and two different dates on its title pages
• Octavo (a recorded copy measures about 198 x 118 mm)
• Collation of the Noon volumes: vol
• I [8], 475, [1] pp., the final leaf carrying the publisher's advertisement; vol
• II [4], 318 pp., with rear advertisement leaves called for by the standard bibliographies and frequently absent in surviving copies

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. 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?

London is the true first; Hume wrote in English and there is no competing foreign or original-language edition, so the whole precedence question is the Noon/Longman sequence itself. The census claim is confirmed: vols. I-II John Noon 1739, vol. III Thomas Longman 1740. Because the third volume appeared roughly eighteen months later from a different house, the two Noon volumes are very often found alone - a two-volume set is not a complete first edition, and complete three-volume sets are genuinely rare. Sources consulted disagree on the month of vol. III (October 1740 vs. 5 November 1740), so only the year 1740 should be relied on.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club or reprint-society issue exists for the 1739-40 sheets. Later eighteenth- and nineteenth-century printings, and all modern scholarly editions (Selby-Bigge, Selby-Bigge/Nidditch, the Clarendon Hume), are separate editions rather than states of the first; the quickest tell is authorship on the title page, since the first edition is anonymous.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of A Treatise of Human Nature a first edition?

A first edition of A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume (John Noon, London) is identified by: Published anonymously - Hume's name appears nowhere in the first edition, so any title page naming him as author is a later edition.

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. London is the true first; Hume wrote in English and there is no competing foreign or original-language edition, so the whole precedence question is the Noon/Longman sequence itself.

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

No book-club or reprint-society issue exists for the 1739-40 sheets. Later eighteenth- and nineteenth-century printings, and all modern scholarly editions (Selby-Bigge, Selby-Bigge/Nidditch, the Clarendon Hume), are separate editions rather than states of the first; the quickest tell is authorship on the title page, since the first edition is anonymous.

I have a first edition of A Treatise of Human Nature — 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.