Is My Birthday Letters a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Faber and Faber first edition, London 1998, an octavo in publisher's blue quarter cloth over blue paper boards, the spine lettered in gilt on a black ground, issued in a pictorial dust jacket reproducing a painting by the poet's daughter Frieda Hughes
• First printing is identified by the copyright-page 'first published in 1998' statement together with Faber's descending number line ending in '1'
• The jacket should retain its printed price
• A separate signed limited edition was also issued in the same year

How Faber and Faber marked a first edition

• Prior to 1968 the year was set in ROMAN NUMERALS (e.g. 'First published in mcmliv'); from 1968 onward Arabic numerals were used — a key dating tell

Full Faber and Faber 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 UK 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?

Faber UK (1998) is the true first trade edition; the Farrar, Straus and Giroux US edition (1998) is the first American. A signed limited edition preceded the trade issue and is the premium state. The collection of eighty-eight poems, addressed almost entirely to Sylvia Plath, appeared months before Hughes's death in 1998, making inscribed copies uncommon.P-030513

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Not a book-club title. Confirm the Faber copyright-page statement and descending number line ending in '1' for the UK first, and distinguish it from the FSG US first by imprint; the FSG jacket and copyright page differ.P-030514

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Birthday Letters a first edition?

A first edition of Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber) is identified by: Faber and Faber first edition, London 1998, an octavo in publisher's blue quarter cloth over blue paper boards, the spine lettered in gilt on a black ground, issued in a pictorial dust jacket reproducing a painting by the poet's daughter Frieda Hughes.

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). Faber UK (1998) is the true first trade edition; the Farrar, Straus and Giroux US edition (1998) is the first American.

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

Not a book-club title. Confirm the Faber copyright-page statement and descending number line ending in '1' for the UK first, and distinguish it from the FSG US first by imprint; the FSG jacket and copyright page differ.

I have a first edition of Birthday Letters — 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.