Is My Common Sense a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published anonymously, octavo, "Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, in Third-Street
• MDCCLXXVI" - advertised in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on 9 January 1776 and issued on 10 January 1776 as a the printed price pamphlet in an edition of 1,000 copies
• Identification is decided entirely by Richard Gimbel's internal points (Gimbel, A Bibliographical Check List of Common Sense, Yale, 1956): auction houses will only call a copy a first printing when it conforms to all of them, and the two most-cited are that p
• 63, line 13 ends with the words "pedling politi-", and that the title leaf exists in two states - in the first, line 12 of the title ends "some mis-"; in the second it ends "some"
• Sophisticated copies are the norm rather than the exception: the pamphlet was issued stitched, and the fragile outer leaves (the title-and-preface gathering [A]2 and leaf K1) are routinely supplied from a third-edition copy, so the stab-holes and those specific leaves must be checked against the rest of the sheets
• Sotheby's records only about seventeen complete first editions, with two in private hands

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 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?

Philadelphia is the true first - there is no earlier London or foreign edition, and the census claim that Bell's anonymous Philadelphia printing of 10 January 1776 is the true first is confirmed. The traps are all downstream and all dated 1776. Bell's own unauthorised "second edition" of 27 January 1776 is largely the same setting: the compositor simply reset the first line, dropping the dateline and substituting "The Second Edition" in a larger font - so a copy can look like first-edition sheets and not be one. The genuinely enlarged edition is Bradford's, advertised 14 February 1776 (Gimbel CS-12; Evans 14959), which adds Paine's Appendix and his "Address to the People called Quakers" and is the third edition overall, not a first. Separately, "Large Additions to Common Sense" (Bell, 1776) is Bell's own compilation gathered from various sources - it is not by Paine and is often bound in at the end of first-edition sheets. Dozens of further 1776 colonial and British reprints follow, the earliest outside Philadelphia apparently New York: John Anderson, 15 February 1776 (Gimbel CS-40; Evans 14956).

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for a 1776 pamphlet. The reprint tells are imprint and setting: the first is Bell's Philadelphia imprint conforming to Gimbel CS-1. Everything else - Bell's "Second Edition," the Bradford enlarged edition, the Anderson New York reprint, the London reprints, and the endless modern facsimiles and reading editions - is a separate edition. Any copy naming Paine as author on the title is not the first, which is anonymous.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Common Sense a first edition?

A first edition of Common Sense by Thomas Paine (R. Bell, Philadelphia) is identified by: Published anonymously, octavo, "Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R.

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. Philadelphia is the true first - there is no earlier London or foreign edition, and the census claim that Bell's anonymous Philadelphia printing of 10 January 1776 is the true first is confirmed.

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

No book-club issue exists for a 1776 pamphlet. The reprint tells are imprint and setting: the first is Bell's Philadelphia imprint conforming to Gimbel CS-1. Everything else - Bell's "Second Edition," the Bradford enlarged edition, the Anderson New York reprint, the London reprints, and the endless modern facsimiles and reading editions - is a separate edition. Any copy naming Paine as author on the title is not the first, which is anonymous.

I have a first edition of Common Sense — 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.