Is My Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Bound in black cloth-backed boards with gilt lettering to the spine; issued with illustrated map endpapers and black-and-white text illustrations
• The first US printing carries the copyright-page number line in Walker and Company's characteristic offset hybrid form, 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2, with the lowest figure
• present, together with a first US publication statement dated 1997
• The first-state jacket should retain its printed price to the corner (a clipped example is acceptable, but the price should originally have been present)

How Walker and Company marked a first edition

• British convention: a first printing carries a complete number line on the copyright page ending in 1 (commonly '2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1' or '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1'); the lowest digit present is the printing

Full Walker and Company first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
3. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
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?

US Walker and Company (New York) is the true first, 1997; the UK Jonathan Cape edition followed in 1998.P-020908

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Confirm the full Walker number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 (with the 1 present) on the copyright page. Later or reprinted issues drop the 1 from the line, and the mass-market Penguin paperback is a separate, later issue rather than the first.P-020909

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World a first edition?

A first edition of Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (Walker and Company) is identified by: Bound in black cloth-backed boards with gilt lettering to the spine; issued with illustrated map endpapers and black-and-white text illustrations.

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). US Walker and Company (New York) is the true first, 1997; the UK Jonathan Cape edition followed in 1998.

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

Confirm the full Walker number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 (with the 1 present) on the copyright page. Later or reprinted issues drop the 1 from the line, and the mass-market Penguin paperback is a separate, later issue rather than the first.

I have a first edition of Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World — 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.