Is My Copy of American Psycho a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Paperback original — there is no jacket, the printed wrapper is the binding
• Vintage Contemporaries, New York, March 1991
• ISBN 0-679-73577-1
• 399 pp. First printing: the last line of the copyright page carries a full descending number line, 10 down to 1, double-spaced; the wrapper shows the original Vintage colophon and the minimalist original design
• Later-printing tells: a number line sequenced odds-to-evens (1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2), or any line containing a letter in place of a digit; a revised rear-cover price; and revised back-matter advertising — a copy advertising 'Imperial Bedrooms' (published 2010) is self-evidently late
• CAUTION: at least one dealer listing describes a copy with an odds-to-evens line as a first edition

How Vintage Contemporaries marked a first edition

• States 'First Vintage … Edition (Month Year)' on the copyright page with a descending number line ending in 1.
• Predominantly a trade-paperback REPRINT line — 'first Vintage edition' is usually NOT the first edition of the work.

Full Vintage Contemporaries 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the US 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?

TRUE FIRST IS THE US PAPERBACK ORIGINAL. Simon & Schuster had the novel under contract for conventional hardcover publication and cancelled roughly three months before release over the book's content; Vintage acquired it and issued it as a Vintage Contemporaries trade paperback original in March 1991, so no American hardcover first edition exists. Picador (London) published the first UK edition — also a paperback — on 26 April 1991, after the Vintage. FIRST-THUS TRAP: Picador issued the first-ever hardback of the novel only in 1998, and a US hardcover appeared from Centipede Press in 2012; both are firsts thus, not first editions, and neither displaces the 1991 Vintage Contemporaries wrapper.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition documented. The functional equivalents here are later Vintage printings passed as firsts: identify them by the odds-to-evens or letter-bearing number line, the revised rear-cover price, the later Vintage logo, and back-matter advertising titles published after 1991.P-039312

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of American Psycho a first edition?

A first edition of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (Vintage Contemporaries) is identified by: Paperback original — there is no jacket, the printed wrapper is the binding.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). TRUE FIRST IS THE US PAPERBACK ORIGINAL.

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

No book-club edition documented. The functional equivalents here are later Vintage printings passed as firsts: identify them by the odds-to-evens or letter-bearing number line, the revised rear-cover price, the later Vintage logo, and back-matter advertising titles published after 1991.

I have a first edition of American Psycho — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.