Is My Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in book form, printed in Madrid for José Bergamín's review Cruz y Raya under its book imprint Ediciones del Árbol, in an edition of 1,100 copies — the limitation figure is the primary point and is corroborated across Spanish trade and institutional sources
• Full title 'Bodas de sangre (Tragedia en tres actos y siete cuadros)'
• 125 pp. + 1 leaf, small 4to, roughly 23 x 17 cm, issued in rústica (printed wrappers) with flaps
• The dating is dual and is itself an identification point: the imprint is recorded as 1935 while the colophon is dated 31 January 1936, so catalogues and dealers legitimately cite either year for the same first edition — a copy described as '1935' and one described as '1936' are not necessarily different editions, and the year alone should never be used to separate them
• The first-edition text predates the author's 1936 Barcelona revisions and carries copying errors corrected in later editions, so textual state and imprint agree

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. 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.
5. 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?

No language-precedence contest: this is the Spanish original and the only first-edition candidate. It is the only one of Lorca's plays published in book form during his lifetime; the play premiered at the Teatro Beatriz, Madrid, on 8 March 1933, nearly three years before printing, so no earlier book-form 'first' can exist. English translations follow the Spanish original and hold no precedence. The play was staged in English in New York in 1935 as 'Bitter Oleander' in José Weissberger's translation, but that production predates any published English text; the census note's claim of a 1939 first English translation could not be confirmed against two independent sources naming a translator and publisher, so no English first is asserted here.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. The reprint field is the real hazard: Guillermo de Torre's Losada (Buenos Aires) Obras completas texts and all modern Spanish trade editions (Alianza, Cátedra, Debolsillo and others) are reprints with no first-edition standing. Sources also record that a facsimile of the first edition is freely consultable in the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica — a facsimile is not a first, and its page images match the original exactly.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) a first edition?

A first edition of Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) by Federico García Lorca (Ediciones del Árbol / revista Cruz y Raya) is identified by: First edition in book form, printed in Madrid for José Bergamín's review Cruz y Raya under its book imprint Ediciones del Árbol, in an edition of 1,100 copies — the limitation figure is the primary point and is corroborated across Spanish trade and institutional sources.

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. No language-precedence contest: this is the Spanish original and the only first-edition candidate.

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

No book-club edition. The reprint field is the real hazard: Guillermo de Torre's Losada (Buenos Aires) Obras completas texts and all modern Spanish trade editions (Alianza, Cátedra, Debolsillo and others) are reprints with no first-edition standing. Sources also record that a facsimile of the first edition is freely consultable in the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica — a facsimile is not a first, and its page images match the original exactly.

I have a first edition of Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) — 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.