Is My Clotel; or, The President's Daughter a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first edition's title page reads 'Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States
• By William Wells Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Author of Three Years in Europe
• With a Sketch of the Author's Life
• London: Partridge and Oakey, 1853.' Collation runs viii, 245, [12] pages, the final gathering being publisher's advertisements
• The first edition retains extensive documentary material — newspaper clippings, poems, and other extra-narrative matter woven through the story — that Brown stripped out when he substantially rewrote the book for later American reissues

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. Verify this is the American 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?

Clotel could not legally be published in the United States in 1853 while Brown remained a fugitive under the Fugitive Slave Act, so the true first edition is this London imprint; no American edition of Clotel itself, as opposed to its retitled revisions, appeared in the 1850s.P-035673

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Brown revised and retitled the novel repeatedly for American publication — as Miralda; or, The Beautiful Quadroon (serialized 1860-61), Clotelle: A Tale of the Southern States (1864), and Clotelle; or, The Colored Heroine (1867) — all shortened, differently titled texts, not reprints of the 1853 first edition.P-035674

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Clotel; or, The President's Daughter a first edition?

A first edition of Clotel; or, The President's Daughter by William Wells Brown (Partridge and Oakey) is identified by: The first edition's title page reads 'Clotel; or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States.

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. Clotel could not legally be published in the United States in 1853 while Brown remained a fugitive under the Fugitive Slave Act, so the true first edition is this London imprint; no American edition of Clotel itself, as opposed to its retitled revisions, appeared in the 1850s.

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

Brown revised and retitled the novel repeatedly for American publication — as Miralda; or, The Beautiful Quadroon (serialized 1860-61), Clotelle: A Tale of the Southern States (1864), and Clotelle; or, The Colored Heroine (1867) — all shortened, differently titled texts, not reprints of the 1853 first edition.

I have a first edition of Clotel; or, The President's Daughter — 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.