Is My American Born Chinese a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, First Second, 2006
• The trade issue was a paperback original (ISBN 978-1-59643-152-2), issued together with a scarce limited hardcover collector's state available mainly through comic shops and conventions
• Identify a first printing by the First Second imprint, the 2006 date, and a first-printing number line
• The hardcover state adds cloth-and-board binding with a black silk ribbon marker

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 the first graphic novel named a National Book Award finalist; it also won the Printz Award and an Eisner. The format of first issue was the trade paperback in 2006; a separate trade hardcover edition followed in 2007 and is a first-thus, not the original. The scarce 2006 limited hardcover is a premium state but not the standard trade format.P-009821

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition recorded. The trap is treating the later 2007 hardcover as the first edition; verify the First Second imprint and the 2006 first printing.P-009822

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of American Born Chinese a first edition?

A first edition of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (First Second) is identified by: First edition, First Second, 2006.

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 the first graphic novel named a National Book Award finalist; it also won the Printz Award and an Eisner.

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

No book-club edition recorded. The trap is treating the later 2007 hardcover as the first edition; verify the First Second imprint and the 2006 first printing.

I have a first edition of American Born Chinese — 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.