Is My Anne of Green Gables a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions
• Page reprinted almost monthly for two years, and each subsequent impression adds its own dated line beneath
• The title page carries the date in Roman numerals (MDCCCCVIII), but this is not a point on its own — the Roman-numeral title page persists through roughly the first three dozen impressions into the 1910s, so the copyright page is the only reliable test
• Collation is octavo, viii, [2], 429 pp. plus publisher's advertisements, with a frontispiece and seven plates by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus and an uncredited cover design by George Gibbs
• The binding is the publisher's ribbed cloth ruled in blind, gilt-lettered on spine and front board, with a mounted pictorial onlay of Anne's profile to the front board; the cloth is found in at least three colours (green, brown, and a pinkish-grey/beige) with no priority established among them, so cloth colour is not an identification point
• A dust jacket was issued but no jacketed copy is recorded as surviving, so jacket points play no part in identifying this book

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 British 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 claim is confirmed. L. C. Page & Company, Boston — published 13 June 1908, the author's first book — is the true first. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London issued the first British edition the same year (1908), printed from the American sheets; it follows Page and is collected as the first British edition rather than as the true first. Despite the Canadian author and Prince Edward Island setting there is no earlier Canadian edition; Page held the book. The Pitman imprint carried the sequel, Anne of Avonlea, in 1909, which is a common source of date confusion.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No contemporary book-club issue of the 1908 Page first is documented. The standing trap is later Page impressions: they retain the MDCCCCVIII Roman-numeral title page, the Claus plates and the same pictorial-onlay binding, and differ only by the added impression lines on the copyright page — dealers routinely and correctly catalogue such copies as "the printed pricet edition, 7th printing" and the like. A variant with no impressions stated and no Roman-numeral date on the title page is recorded and is reported to be a later printing on which the impression line was omitted, not an earlier state.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Anne of Green Gables a first edition?

A first edition of Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (L. C. Page & Company) is identified by: The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions; Page reprinted almost monthly for two years, and each subsequent impression adds its own dated line beneath.

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 claim is confirmed.

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

No contemporary book-club issue of the 1908 Page first is documented. The standing trap is later Page impressions: they retain the MDCCCCVIII Roman-numeral title page, the Claus plates and the same pictorial-onlay binding, and differ only by the added impression lines on the copyright page — dealers routinely and correctly catalogue such copies as "the printed pricet edition, 7th printing" and the like. A variant with no impressions stated and no Roman-numeral date on the title page is recorded

I have a first edition of Anne of Green Gables — 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.