Is My Bone #1 (comic) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Self-published black-and-white first issue, July 1991, the printed price
• The decisive identifier of the true first printing is the RED Bone logo on the cover (later printings use other logo colors); the first printing carries the Cartoon Books indicia with the 1991 date and no printing notation
• Later printings (more than a dozen exist, including tenth-anniversary, Wizard, and Image editions) are explicitly marked and far more common
• The first printing had a very low print run

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. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
4. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

First appearance of the Bone cousins (Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Smiley Bone), Thorn, and the Rat Creatures; among the most sought self-published indie keys of the 1990s. The genuine collectible is the 1991 first-print floppy with the red logo, not the later 'Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume' omnibus (first issued 2004), which is a separate 'first thus.'P-014296

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition. Distinguish the scarce 1991 first print from the many marked reprints by the red logo, the absence of a printing number, and the original indicia. The one-volume omnibus and the Scholastic Graphix color editions are entirely later.P-014297

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Bone #1 (comic) a first edition?

A first edition of Bone #1 (comic) by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books) is identified by: Self-published black-and-white first issue, July 1991, the printed price.

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

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. First appearance of the Bone cousins (Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Smiley Bone), Thorn, and the Rat Creatures; among the most sought self-published indie keys of the 1990s.

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

No book-club edition. Distinguish the scarce 1991 first print from the many marked reprints by the red logo, the absence of a printing number, and the original indicia. The one-volume omnibus and the Scholastic Graphix color editions are entirely later.

I have a first edition of Bone #1 (comic) — 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.