2 Dava Sobel first editions are documented on this shelf, from Longitude (1995) to Longitude — deeper Sobel: Galileo's Daughter (1999) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Dava Sobel title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.

Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Dava Sobel copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Longitude — 1995 · Walker & CompanyWalker and Company, New York, 1995. The copyright page carries the stated-edition wording 'First published in the United States of America in 1995' together with a number line descending to 1. A small octavo in cloth-backed boards, about 184 pages including the index; issued in a first-state dust jacket that should retain its original printed front-flap price. The first issue is the unillustrated trade text. US Walker 1995 is the true first, preceding the UK Fourth Estate edition (1996, which carries the longer subtitle). Later illustrated editions (1998) are textually expanded and not the first. Signed Sobel copies desirable. The Illustrated Longitude (published later, 1998, with added images and captions) is a separate 'first thus,' not the 1995 first. Later Walker printings show number lines that no longer descend to 1.
Longitude — deeper Sobel: Galileo's Daughter — 1999 · Walker & CompanyWalker hardcover, ISBN 0-8027-1343-2. Walker trade editions of this era are identified by the absence of any later-printing statement, typically together with a number line ending in 1 on the copyright page; later printings add a higher printing statement or advance the number line. First-issue jacket carries the printed price. US Walker is the true first, preceding the UK (Fourth Estate) edition. Distinct from Longitude (Walker, 1995), which is already cataloged. No book-club issue of note; confusion is with later Walker printings. A number line ending in 1 (or no later-printing statement) plus the printed-price jacket identifies the first.

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