Is My Almayer's Folly a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first state, 1895
• 272 pp., octavo, with half-title present and the title page printed in red and black
• Bound in publisher's dark green cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine, top edge gilt and the remaining edges untrimmed
• The first state point is typographic: the type is dropped/missing in the final two lines of page 110 (Cagle A1a
• Print-run figures conflict across the record — Conrad wrote of 1,100 copies in 1895, the publisher suggested 1,000, and Wise gave 2,000 — so no single figure should be stated as settled
• No jacket points are documented for this title

How T. Fisher Unwin marked a first edition

• Late-Victorian house that stated editions more explicitly than the earlier three-decker firms: many firsts carry a printed title-page date, and a first shows the original date with no later-impression notice and no repri…
• Series volumes (Pseudonym Library, Autonym Library, Mermaid Series) carry series numbering; the series setting is the first appearance for many original titles but a reprint for classics — verify which for each book.

Full T. Fisher Unwin first-edition guide →

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 American 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?

T. Fisher Unwin, London, is the true first of Conrad's first book, released at the end of April 1895 (first reviewed in The Scotsman, 29 April 1895), and the census claim is confirmed. The first American — Macmillan and Co., New York, 1895, roughly 650 copies, published in the first week of May 1895 per Cagle — is a genuinely distinct edition: it was typeset from uncorrected proofs and its text varies considerably from the English. It is bound in very dark blue cloth with double blind rules framing each cover and 'Macmillan & Co' at the spine foot (Supino binding A). Both are collected, but the margin is days rather than months: Macmillan's copies were deposited at the Library of Congress on 15 April and one copy reached Wilson's lending library on 30 April, so catalogue the Unwin as the true first without overstating the gap.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporaneous book-club edition is documented. Copies lacking the page 110 type-drop are later. Conrad's later collected and uniform editions are 'first thus' traps and carry none of the 1895 points.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Almayer's Folly a first edition?

A first edition of Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad (T. Fisher Unwin) is identified by: First edition, first state, 1895; 272 pp., octavo, with half-title present and the title page printed in red and black.

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. T.

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

No contemporaneous book-club edition is documented. Copies lacking the page 110 type-drop are later. Conrad's later collected and uniform editions are 'first thus' traps and carry none of the 1895 points.

I have a first edition of Almayer's Folly — 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.