Is My Brat Farrar a First Edition?

The points of issue

• CONFIRMED. The true first is Peter Davies, London, 1949; the Library of Congress catalogues it as "London, P. Davies [1949]", the square brackets indicating the year is supplied by the cataloguer and is not printed on the title page
• The Classic Crime Fiction first-edition checklist records the binding as brown cloth with gilt spine lettering and a priced jacket (price present at the flap); a Cotswold Internet Books dealer description of a 1949 Peter Davies copy independently gives the cloth as tan with a faded, worn spine, so the shade is reported variously as brown/tan and a copy should not be rejected on that basis alone
• Peter Davies is not covered by any of the standard publisher-identification guides consulted (qbbooks, ILAB), so no publisher-specific rule can be cited: identification rests on the copyright-page statement together with the absence of any later-impression or "reprinted" notice, and there is no number line (British publishers of this period did not use them)
• The first American edition is Macmillan, New York, 1950 (copyright 1949) per the Library of Congress record "New York, Macmillan, 1950 [c1949]"; under the Macmillan (US) convention in force from mid-1936 it states "First printing" on the copyright page

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 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?

UK precedes US, and the census claim is confirmed as written. Peter Davies, London, 1949 is the true first; Macmillan, New York, 1950 (copyright 1949) is the first American edition and is collected in its own right — name both. "Come and Kill Me" is not a separate work and not a first: it is the retitled US Pocket Books paperback issue of 1951, a first-thus trap. Likewise the Macmillan "Three by Tey" omnibus (New York, 1954) and the R. Bentley (Cambridge, Mass., 1981) issue, which the Library of Congress records as "Reprinted from the author's Three by Tey", are reprints.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue points specific to this title are documented in the sources consulted; the general tells apply and should be checked. On the US side, a Doubleday/Macmillan-era book-club copy typically shows an unpriced jacket flap or "Book Club Edition" printed at the flap, a blind stamp debossed into the rear board near the spine, and a lighter, smaller bulk than the trade issue. The Collier Books (1988, c1950) and R. Bentley (1981) issues are later reprints, not book clubs, and are frequently miscatalogued as firsts because they carry the 1949/1950 copyright date.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Brat Farrar a first edition?

A first edition of Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (Peter Davies) is identified by: The true first is Peter Davies, London, 1949; the Library of Congress catalogues it as "London, P.

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). UK precedes US, and the census claim is confirmed as written.

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

No book-club issue points specific to this title are documented in the sources consulted; the general tells apply and should be checked. On the US side, a Doubleday/Macmillan-era book-club copy typically shows an unpriced jacket flap or "Book Club Edition" printed at the flap, a blind stamp debossed into the rear board near the spine, and a lighter, smaller bulk than the trade issue. The Collier Books (1988, c1950) and R. Bentley (1981) issues are later reprints, not book clubs, and are frequent

I have a first edition of Brat Farrar — 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.