Is My Color a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing is identified on the copyright page by BOTH the "First Edition" statement and the Harper & Brothers date code "H-Z"
• Harper's code (used on the copyright page from 1912 to 1968) is two letters: the first is the month of printing (A=January, B=February, C=March, D=April, E=May, F=June, G=July, H=August, I=September, K=October, L=November, M=December — the letter J is skipped), the second is the year, with Z = 1925
• So H-Z = August 1925
• Because the code records the date of that particular printing, any later Harper impression carries a different letter pair — the code is therefore the decisive tell and cannot be faked by a matching title-page date
• Octavo, 108 pp., 73 poems including "Yet Do I Marvel," "Heritage," and "Incident." Publisher's binding: quarter/half yellow cloth over patterned paper-covered boards, with printed paper labels affixed to the spine and to the front board, black lettering to the label; deckle edges
• The dust jacket is present on very few surviving copies and is rarely found; the vast majority of firsts on the market are jacketless, so jacket absence is not evidence against a first

How Harper & Brothers, New York and London marked a first edition

• 1912-1949: month/year letter code on copyright page. Month: A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar, D=Apr, E=May, F=Jun, G=Jul, H=Aug, I=Sep, K=Oct, L=Nov, M=Dec (J skipped).
• From 1922: also began printing 'First Edition' on the copyright page in addition to the code.

Full Harper & Brothers, New York and London first-edition guide →

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 British 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?

The census claim is essentially correct, with one refinement: the title page imprint reads "New York and London," which regularly misleads cataloguers into positing a separate British first. It is a joint Harper imprint on an American production — Harper & Brothers, 1925, is the true and only first edition, and no separate British first edition of Color is recorded. There is no original-language precedence question.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the 1925 Harper edition is documented in any source consulted. Later Harper printings are identified by a different month-year code letter pair on the copyright page (and the "First Edition" statement should be absent); still later reprints appear under the Harper & Row imprint and under other publishers, all of which are later editions rather than club copies.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Color a first edition?

A first edition of Color by Countee Cullen (Harper & Brothers, New York and London) is identified by: First edition, first printing is identified on the copyright page by BOTH the "First Edition" statement and the Harper & Brothers date code "H-Z".

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. The census claim is essentially correct, with one refinement: the title page imprint reads "New York and London," which regularly misleads cataloguers into positing a separate British first.

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

No book-club issue of the 1925 Harper edition is documented in any source consulted. Later Harper printings are identified by a different month-year code letter pair on the copyright page (and the "First Edition" statement should be absent); still later reprints appear under the Harper & Row imprint and under other publishers, all of which are later editions rather than club copies.

I have a first edition of Color — 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.